Cloaks and capes aren’t the same thing, but they’re both having a moment.
A cloak played a major role in Doctor Strange, helping the titular character fight Mads Mikkelsen’s Kaecilius, while a caped Imperial military officer in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story tangles with… Mads Mikkelsen. He’s positively Mads about outer garments. The first of Disney’s Star Wars standalone films was released late Thursday, and reviews have been mostly positive. Our own Mike Ryan wrote, “I could make the case Rogue One shouldn’t work — from everything from the reshoots to just the fact Star Wars is breaking from centering its story around the Skywalkers — but, yet, it does work. Mostly,” while others have praised Rogue One‘s ending and sassy new droid, K-2SO.
But the obvious MVP is the cape worn by Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic.
Majestic. And don’t think Mendelsohn doesn’t know it. “Listen, I have no doubt that cape is, and you’ll pardon my language, a motherf*cking movie star,” the Bloodline star told Vulture. “It’s a movie star all on its own!” (He also said that putting on the cape “gives you a dignity and an uprightness that you might not have had otherwise. It’s the sign of a great costume.”) Rogue One is more serious and (sigh) “gritty” than any previous Star Wars movie, but the cape, along with Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker’s over-the-top performances, add a welcome campiness to all the grim bloodshed.
What I’m saying is, everyone should own a billowing cape. Thank you.
I'm seeing #RogueOne in about 10 minutes and I'm already having a meltdown over Ben Mendelsohn and his cape in 3D. #help
— kim | moustache enthusiast ⚓🪂 (@kimsdewi) December 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/go_anna40/status/809701430084808704
Ben Mendelsohn: "Listen, I have no doubt that cape is, & you'll pardon my language, a motherfucking movie star."
It is. So is he. #RogueOne— Laurie Crosswell (@lauriecrosswell) December 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/SlickVick_23/status/809659968773390336
Gotta respect a villain who can rock a white cape. #RogueOne
— Jared Clark (@JC_Ice007) December 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/okjanelle/status/809598809961533440
"I got to get me a white cape."
My first thought after Rogue One.— Nalinee (@Nalinee) December 16, 2016
Final note – I want Director Krennic's cape
— Rowan (@RowanMcgennis) December 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/slenderdie/status/809475121085902848
I wanna steal Orson Krennic's cape.
— Big Tony 🌌 (@Frozen_Heathen) December 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/hux_you_up/status/809653258809737216
Just how dirty do you think Ben Mendelsohn's cape must be by the end of #RogueOne. I imagine it looks like the underside of a couch. pic.twitter.com/4SyImkJE3r
— Still Tweeterin’ Eric Fuchs (@BlueHighwind) December 16, 2016
(Via Vulture)