The well-known movie-aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes has taken the exceptional step of disabling user comments on The Dark Knight Rises reviews posted on their site, a first for the website, after one negative review in particular was met with a virulent stream of comments that threatened the reviewer with beatings, mishaps by way of fire, and the debilitation of his vile website for posting such heinous remarks about The Dark Knight Rises (and his website was indeed debilitated and inaccessible for some time, though it's now up again).

That reviewer is Marshall Fine, and his website is hollywoodandfine.com, where his review of The Dark Knight Rises now has over 150 comments, mostly describing the reviewer as a fool, a contrarian opportunist, and/or someone with no taste in movies.

Rotten Tomatoes actually removed Fine's review from their list (though not the rating from it) following the backlash, and Editor-in-Chief Matt Atchity released a statement on the site explaining why they had to take that step, in which he said:

"Marshall has the right to not like the movie, and people have the right to express their disagreement with him (although if you haven't seen the movie, your arguments may be on shaky ground). And we have the right to pull your comment down and ban you if we think you're acting inappropriately."

Other reviews which have criticized the movie to some extent have been met with that same criticism in return, including a review by Associated Press reviewer Christy Lemire, and one by Village Voice critic Nick Pinkerton.

Of course the most obvious problem with these negative reviews of negative reviews, is that the majority of those reviewing (and lambasting) the reviews haven't actually seen the movie themselves; which makes their opinions quite biased and self-serving, and their methods of attacking the review rather uninspiring ("you liked X movie, so your opinion is invalid"), since they can't actually defend the movie (which again, they haven't seen) on its actual merits.

As the man at the center of the review controversy himself, Marshall Fine said to CBC News, there's perhaps an underlying reason why some people take negative reviews so personally:

"This is what they live for, so to have somebody say 'This isn't good,' they take it personally. To them it's a slap in the face. It's not just that I said 'I don't like this movie.' They hear that as 'I don't like this movie and if you do, there's something wrong with you.' They take it personally and they respond emotionally".

Reviewers, be warned: there's a large group of passionate Batman fans out there (who may or may not wear capes in private) and they don't take kindly to any harsh critiques of the Caped Crusader's latest flick, whether the movie actually deserves it in your mind or not. Step in line, or face the firing squad.

Did Rotten Tomatoes do the right thing by suspending user comments? Are people going too far in their defense of the film? Is this just something reviewers have to accept as part of their profession? Share your thoughts on the Caped Crusader and his passionate, cape-wearing, negative-review hating fans in the comments.