There’s a very good chance that most diehard Star Wars fans are going to love The Force Awakens. They’re going to love it because it’s been made to their exact specifications, relayed through years of constructive criticism and very vocal bellyaching. Gone are the senatorial tariff debates, slapstick alien mascots, and stiff Jedi banter that characterized George Lucas’ commercially successful but widely maligned prequel trilogy. As directed by professional franchise custodian J.J. Abrams, this seventh installment goes back to the basics of what made the series the most popular in movie history. Like, all the way back: The Force Awakens borrows so much from the 1977 original—environments, relationship dynamics, action scenes, even a basic plot structure—that it often resembles a remake as much as a straight sequel. But for plenty of viewers, any misgivings about originality will go out the window the minute Han Solo and Chewbacca saunter back into the Millennium Falcon, or that rousing John Williams score rises over new images for the first time in a decade. 
 
 Made without Lucas’ involvement, The Force Awakens is a state-of-the-art throwback, both retro and post-modern in its self-awareness. It doesn’t just know that it’s operating in the long shadow of a classic; it hardwires that understanding into its own DNA, making legacy a prevailing theme. The Star Wars movies build myths on top of myths on top of myths, creating a universe where future legends are always nipping at the heels of established ones. Here, in what amounts to Abrams and company’s smartest play, the characters themselves are basically Star Wars fans; they speak in hushed tones about the events of the original trilogy, just as Luke Skywalker and his crew hung on stories of how a great Jedi turned to the dark side. Hell, even the villain of The Force Awakens has done his homework: Dressed head to toe in black, with a mask to go with his James Earl Jonesian baritone, he’s got serious Sith envy. 
 
 Is that saying too much already? Abrams and his corporate overlords at Disney have been protecting story secrets with the iron fist of the Empire. But this is a Star Wars movie; setting aside the big reveals no responsible publication would disclose, the plot is pulp simplicity itself—and all the more incidental for how often it repeats the arc of A New Hope, beat by beat. There’s a new confederation of the dark side called The First Order, led by that aforementioned Vader groupie and stocked with enough Stormtroopers to turn an alien village into a killing field. There’s a heroic resistance, putting flyboys like Oscar Isaac’s sardonic Poe Dameron into dog fights with the enemy. And there’s a quiet early stretch on a desert “junkyard” planet that looks exactly like Tatooine but isn’t, where we meet our hero, a plucky scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley). 
 
 This is where hiring back Empire Strikes Back author Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Abrams and Michael Arndt, really pays off. It’s a testament to the nimble scripting that the new characters take shape so quickly, elbowing their way into a ensemble of returning fan favorites. Rey, at this early stage, isn’t much more than a beacon of raw promise, but Ridley gives her a spark of good-natured determination; she has personality—never a given in Lucas land—and she’s just as capable with a bow as a saber. Her counterpart, in another victory for the diversification of this series, is turncoat Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), who flees the life of killing he was born into. The Force Awakens under-dramatizes this enormous moral decision, but it also allows Boyega, star of Attack The Block, to play Finn as a kind of charismatic dork, quick with the nervous jokes and smart enough to know that he’s in way over his head. Even the big bad has depth; you want to laugh when he takes off his helmet to reveal Girls star Adam Driver, until the actor conveys an unnerving vulnerability to go with his character’s volcanic temper. 
 
 There are plenty of memorable images, too: Rey taking a breather against a fallen Imperial Walker, half submerged in the sand; Domhnall Gleeson pumping up a crowd of Stormtroopers, invoking WWII fascism more bluntly than the series ever has; a lightsaber battle in the snow that puts the samurai-cinema influences of Star Wars front and center. Abrams, whose style has expanded exponentially from its televisual roots, has done slavish imitation before, in the synthetic nostalgia object Super 8. But he more soulfully mimics early Lucas than early Spielberg. That means shooting on 35mm to recreate the texture of the original trilogy, as well as to distinguish from the blatantly digital aesthetic of the prequels. It also means reproducing the dustier, rustier, more handmade quality of Lucas’ landfill universe—a look that Abrams salutes with every beat-up landspeeder (CGI or not) and cluttered cockpit. (Even the BB-8, that roly-poly droid coming to your kids’ toy box this Christmas, looks like something you could pick up with your hands.) 
 
 The Lost creator does have a weakness for winking callbacks, which can be good for a laugh, as when Rey dismisses a certain iconic ship as old “garbage,” but can also lead to instances of glib pandering. (As in Star Trek Into Darkness, which was a clear dry run for this gig, Abrams botches his most potentially affecting scene by turning it into a big re-creation of one of the franchise’s most famous moments.) But his affection for his adopted sandbox is never less than clear; if The Force Awakens often feels like savvy fan service, shuffling through a greatest-hits collection of familiar scenarios, it also plays most of its grace notes with honesty. Yes, putting Harrison Ford back in that old jacket (”It’s new,” Han insists) is a foolproof recipe for applause. But there’s nothing canned about the older, wiser charm the actor brings to this aged Han Solo, and seeing the character reunite with Carrie Fisher’s battle-hardened Leia doesn’t lose any of its poignancy for being an easy lay-up. 
 
 What Abrams has done is strip Star Wars down to its core components, rearranging the stuff people liked about the original trilogy and getting rid of what they hated about the rest. (Don’t hold your breath for a Jar Jar cameo, in other words.) But the prequels, misguided as they often were, dared to be different, to be their own movies. The Force Awakens never reaches the heights of escapism Lucas once did, mostly because its pleasures are echoes; by the time our posse walks into a saloon that’s just the cantina in a nicer neighborhood, the déjà vu factor begins to feel as much like a drawback as a benefit. Maybe the cyclical nature of the Star Wars universe—the constant teetering between dark and light, the rebalancing of the Force every other decade (or sequel)—excuses the recycled nature of the movie’s fun. Or maybe innovation is overrated when it comes to a mass nostalgic event like the return of the Jedi. But if we’re destined to see more and more episodes, multiplying into an endless horizon like that mandatory opening word crawl, let’s hope they find a few unexplored corners of the galaxy far, far away. Fans might love that, too. 
 
 For thoughts on, and a place to discuss, plot details we can’t reveal in this review, visit The Force Awakens’ spoiler space. ||||| 
 
 Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) with Stormtroopers in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” (Lucasfilm) 
 
 That giant wheezing sound you hear is a collective sigh of relief, heaved by now-legion generations of “Star Wars” fans, from toddlers to their grandparents, who can rest assured that the Force is still with the franchise they grew up on or grew old with. 
 
 After George Lucas’s original trilogy of the 1970s and 1980s, followed by a mid-career slump of prequels during which he threatened to squander the beloved universe he had created (we’re looking at you, Jar Jar Binks), the stakes are unusually high for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Lucas’s characters and inventions are now the property of Disney, which in its wisdom has enlisted J.J. Abrams to reboot the series, with the aim of preserving its core values but infusing it with enough novelty to create yet another cohort of die-hard fans. 
 
 The latest trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was unveiled during halftime of ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The film, directed by J.J. Abrams, is the seventh in the main “Star Wars” series. (The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm) 
 
 It’s the kind of high-stakes quest worthy of Luke Skywalker himself, and — as he did with the 2009 reboot of “Star Trek” — Abrams has proved himself worthy of the charge. “The Force Awakens” strikes all the right chords, emotional and narrative, to feel both familiar and exhilaratingly new. Filled with incident, movement and speed, dusted with light layers of tarnished “used future” grime, it captures the kinetic energy that made the first film, from 1977, such a revelation to filmgoers who marveled at Lucas’s mashup of B movies, Saturday-morning serials, Japanese historical epics and mythic heft. 
 
 [Could a blockbuster win the Oscar? With ‘Mad Max,’ ‘Star Wars,’ it doesn’t seem impossible.] 
 
 What’s more, Abrams has united the original cast with a group of newcomers who mesh seamlessly with their elders, in an ensemble effort that brims with the chops and brio of a great jam session. He’s gotten the band back together in a perfectly balanced performance of oldies and new riffs, respecting all that’s come before but never getting mired in minutiae or fatuous nostalgia. 
 
 
 
 Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) in “The Force Awakens.” (Lucasfilm) 
 
 Newcomer Daisy Ridley shines as Rey. (Film Frame/Disney/Lucasfilm via AP) 
 
 Abrams isn’t coy or gratuitously manipulative when it comes to pleasing his audience. The minute the lights go down, John Williams’s brassy anthem starts up and the opening crawl begins, explaining that Skywalker has been missing for the past 30 years, during which time an evil empire known as the First Order has taken power. A resistance movement is fighting back, led by General Leia Organa, who as the film opens has enlisted her finest fighter pilot to find Luke and enlist his Jedi powers on behalf of the rebel forces. 
 
 That’s enough synopsis for “The Force Awakens,” which deserves to be enjoyed with as clean a slate as possible, plot-wise. It even seems churlish to go into too much detail about specific characters and their roles in this world of futuristic fascism and ragtag chivalry. 
 
 Suffice it to say that Abrams has done stellar work by casting actors who will be unknown to most filmgoers but who shoulder their responsibilities with skill and confidence. Daisy Ridley resembles the plucky younger sister of Emma Watson and Keira Knightley as Rey, a scrappy, steampunk-ish scavenger who befriends a wandering soldier named Finn (John Boyega). Oscar Isaac brings just the right amount of cocksure street smarts to his role as Poe Dameron, and Adam Driver is similarly right-on as a shadowy, somewhat simian figure named Kylo Ren. 
 
 [John Boyega, ‘Force Awakens’ star, is largely unknown. That’s changing fast.] 
 
 
 
 Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) return for more than simple cameos. (Film Frame/Lucasfilm) 
 
 It’s telling, and surpassingly cool, that the last time Isaac and Driver worked together was on a Coen brothers film, the New York folk-scene drama “Inside Llewyn Davis.” That says a lot about the taste of Abrams, who has a wonderful eye for faces and for evoking the worlds of bygone “Star Wars” films while introducing new ones. Hopping from one planet to another — one a desert, one a verdant forest, one filled with snow-capped mountains, all populated by tribal settlements that show colorful layers of wear and tear — his protagonists engage in the firefights, chases, explosions, showdowns and startling Oedipal conflicts that viewers have come to associate with Lucas’s ur-narrative. (There’s even a visit to a cantina crowded with motley extraterrestrials, an establishment owned by Maz Kanata, played by an unrecognizable Lupita Nyong’o.) Most crucially, the director and his co-writers, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, leaven what could be a fatally self-serious homage with teasing, thoroughly delightful flights of humor. 
 
 [Create your own Star Wars character] 
 
 
 
 Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron. (Film Frame/Lucasfilm) 
 
 Breakout “star” BB-8. (Lucasfilm) 
 
 As often as not, the funniest lines belong to Boyega, who at times resembles Kevin Hart in his slightly manic version of a reluctant warrior. Of course, the granddaddy of the form is Han Solo himself, played by Harrison Ford in an amusingly deadpan performance composed of gruff one-liners and one or two genuinely tender, even heartbreaking encounters with figures from his past. One of the most gratifying things about “The Force Awakens” is the fact that Ford and Carrie Fisher, as Leia, play much larger roles in the story than mere perfunctory cameos. 
 
 [‘The best final shot’: Spoiler-free ‘Star Wars’ reactions] 
 
 As for Ford and Fisher’s robotic co-stars, the bad news is that they have some competition as far as adorable droids are concerned: BB-8, a roly-poly little Wall-E of a creature, rolls, beeps and blinks with such puppy-ish charisma that R2-D2 and C-3PO might want to call their agents to make sure they’re in the next installment. That’s coming in two years, which, considering the film’s somber, quietly electrifying final scene, now seems as far away as the Galactic Empire. 
 
 “The Force Awakens” has succeeded where it counts most, in creating a cast of characters that viewers can spend the next several years rooting for, especially the spirited, resourceful heroine at its center. Put another way — and hallelujah for it — there’s not a Binks in the bunch. 
 
 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS 
 
 PG-13. Opens at area theaters on Friday. Contains sci-fi action violence. 135 minutes. ||||| CLOSE Film Critic Billy Goodykoontz reviews 'Star Wars.' 
 
 J.J. Abrams brings the "Star Wars" magic back with a thrilling new installment in the franchise. New faces like Daisy Ridley and John Boyega fit in perfectly with old hands like Harrison Ford. 
 
 Gwendoline CHristie of "Game of Thrones" plays Captain Phasma in the new "Star Wars" film. (Photo: Disney) Story Highlights Critic's rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 
 
 Abrams offers plenty of nods to the original films, but doesn't overdo it 
 
 Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac are good additions to the story 
 
 The plot of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is basically a two-hour-and-change spoiler, but don’t worry, you won’t get any information here that will ruin your experience. 
 
 What you’ll get, instead, is advice: Go see this movie. Granted, if you’re even a casual “Star Wars” fan (do they exist?), you’ll be going anyway. But go with this knowledge — you will not be disappointed. Director J.J. Abrams blends the old with the new, along with a fanboy’s love and a director’s skill, and the results are thrilling. 
 
 And this is coming from a fan of “Star Wars,” but not a fanatic. “The Force Awakens” works for me, too. Obviously, if you live and breathe “Star Wars,” the nods to the previous films will delight. But even that theoretical casual fan will find plenty to love. 
 
 Because what Abrams has done is find and return the ingredient crucial to the original three films in the franchise that was sorely lacking in the second round: fun. 
 
 There are some laugh-out-loud moments here, but also some touching ones. Happy, sad, exciting, silly — all that is included, along with the original sense of Saturday-morning-serial abandon that made what became known as “A New Hope” so wonderful all those years ago. 
 
 So what is it about? Well, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. … But you knew that already. This film takes place 30 years after “Return of the Jedi.” 
 
 The basics are as follows: While peace was returned to the galaxy after Luke, Han and Leia saved the day, trouble is brewing. A new Force-related evil is on the rise, and since there’s no point in having evil power if you can’t abuse it, this bunch, led by the supersize Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), is doing just that, with plans of destruction and that sort of thing. Snoke is aided by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a tall dude who walks around in black with a cape and a helmet that alters his voice. Hmm. 
 
 Don’t jump to conclusions. YOU KNOW NOTHING. 
 
 Or maybe you do. Abrams is good at that kind of sleight-of-hand, too. He definitely keeps the audience on its toes. 
 
 A handful of new characters get dropped into the mix of good vs. evil: Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), a hotshot rebel pilot; Finn (John Boyega), a guy who is — shall we say — considering a career change; and Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger waiting for something, or someone. 
 
 Their paths will lead them, however circuitously, to interactions with Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia (Carrie Fisher) and, yes, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), whose absence in the previews was conspicuous. Want to know why? 
 
 I’ll bet you do. So buy a ticket. 
 
 I will say this: Most of your questions probably will be answered. But Abrams, who co-wrote the screenplay with Lawrence Kasdan (who co-wrote “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”) and Michael Arndt (who won an Oscar for writing “Little Miss Sunshine”), asks even more questions. 
 
 That’s part of the deal with these movies, right? They’re a journey, and so is the story. A quest of sorts, with lots of big reveals and plot twists that range from mildly amusing to jaw-dropping. 
 
 Again: fun. 
 
 The dialogue remains wooden in places, but Abrams swats that away with humor and a self-awareness among the characters. The middle drags a bit while preparations are made for … this thing that happens. But all along the way, there is actual acting (not always a given in this franchise), and the new characters are not just throw-ins. What’s more, Rey kicks ass, a welcome development in a genre that isn’t always so charitable to female characters. 
 
 Abrams shows an expert understanding of what makes the best of these movies so great — even more so than George Lucas himself showed with the unfortunate “The Phantom Menace.” With that film, Lucas lost touch with the magic he created. Abrams finds it and puts it to excellent use. 
 
 “The Force Awakens” indeed — and it awakened the kid in me. 
 
 Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk. 
 
 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' 4.5 stars 
 
 Director: J.J. Abrams. 
 
 Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac. 
 
 Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence. 
 
 Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★ 
 
 Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★ 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1YjC6uH ||||| It’s here — the real Episode Four! From the first few minutes, or even the first few frames, JJ Abrams’s exciting, spectacular and seductively innocent Star Wars: The Force Awakens shows itself a movie in the spirit of the original trilogy, which ended with Return of the Jedi in 1983. (This one takes up the story 30 years later.) 
 
 The Force Awakens reviews roundup: verdicts arrive on JJ Abrams' Star Wars epic Read more 
 
 Technically, of course, that was reconfigured as Episode Six, but The Force Awakens makes you forget about the redundancy and pedantry of the prequel-trilogy that came 15 years later. It restores the comedy that Phantom Menace abandoned. The Force Awakens is in touch with the force of action-adventure and fun. My only tiny reservation, which I will get out of the way now, is with a tiny new droid who has a bit of a Scrappy-Doo vibe about him. 
 
 The Force Awakens re-awoke my love of the first movie and turned my inner fanboy into my outer fanboy. There are very few films which leave me facially exhausted after grinning for 135 minutes, but this is one. And when Han Solo and Chewie come on, I had a feeling in the cinema I haven’t had since I was 16: not knowing whether to burst into tears or into applause. 
 
 JJ Abrams and veteran co-writer Lawrence Kasdan have created a film which is both a narrative progression from the earlier three films and a shrewdly affectionate next-gen reboot of the original 1977 Star Wars — rather in the style of his tremendous re-imagining of the Kirk/Spock Star Trek. Familiar personae, situations and weapons will appear like covers or remixes, and meshed in with new storylines. This notice will be a safe space, incidentally, with a trigger warning only for basic plot points and material already in the public domain. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The stars talk on the red carpet at Monday’s LA premiere 
 
 The original movies were always based on the most extraordinary nexus of personal and family dysfunction: a motor of guilt, shame and conflict. Luke was driven by an increasingly complex Freudian animus against Darth Vader; Han Solo referred to the Millennium Falcon as “she”; male audiences were encouraged both to identify with Luke and to lech over Princess Leia in her outrageous gold slave bikini – and then, with exquisite narrative sadism, we were told they were brother and sister. All this agony is reborn in The Force Awakens: new contortions of fear and black-comic absurdity amidst the romance and excitement. 
 
 Luke has been famously absent from the poster for this film, which led me to fear at first that over the past 30 years, like Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s Go Set A Watchman, he had gone over to the dark side. Suffice it to say that Luke, played by a now grizzled Mark Hamill, is a potent but unwontedly enigmatic presence. 
 
 Hollywood awards expert predicts Oscars success for The Force Awakens Read more 
 
 Princess Leia is now a General and still the warrior queen of the resistance - a tougher and more grandmotherly figure. The dark force is resurgent in the form of the First Order, intent on re-establishing a more candidly fascist control, with quasi-Nuremberg rallies. Ranged against them are new fighters for good. There is Rey, a resourceful survivor on the remote planet of Jakku, who feels destiny within her: she is played by newcomer Daisy Ridley with the brittle determination of a young Keira Knightley. British actor John Boyega plays Finn, a former storm trooper who seeks redemption through betraying his evil masters. 
 
 This brings me to the terrific performance from Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, the new Dark Lord with a terrible secret. He is gorgeously cruel, spiteful and capricious – and unlike the Vader of old, he is given to petulant temper tantrums, with his lightsaber drawn, when uniformed subordinates have the unwelcome task of telling him of some new, temporary victory for the Resistance. Driver’s almost unreadably droll facial expression is very suited to Kylo Ren’s fastidious and amused contempt for his enemies’ weakness and compassion. There is a brilliant moment when he uses the telekinetic power of the Force against a laser shot. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Watch the second trailer 
 
 Star Wars: The Force Awakens – your interactive cheat sheet Read more 
 
 The lightsaber contests themselves are of course more athletic than in the 70s and 80s but also somehow more humanly interesting: Rey herself needs no condescending advice from men either on unarmed combat or flying the Millennium Falcon. 
 
 JJ Abrams has an instinctive sympathy for the classic Star Wars landscapes and lays them out with élan: the switch from galaxies to shadowy forests and of course vast rippling deserts. In almost her first appearance, Rey is seen tobogganing down a huge dune on a sled made of rope. For me it’s a reminder that though the first Star Wars was avowedly inspired by Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, I think it originally derived its look from David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia or even the dreamscapes of Dalí. 
 
 But of course this film is part of an entertainment world so huge it need refer only to itself. The Force Awakens does not, in the way of other franchises, feel the need to be “dark” – having of course repudiated the dark side. It basically powers along on a great surging riptide of idealism and optimism, that family-movie ethic which some have derided for killing off the dystopian tradition of sci-fi. In fact, Star Wars has now gone beyond the sci-fi genre to its own kind of intergalactic quasi-Arthurian romance: that and a return to the world of Saturday morning pictures. The Force Awakens is ridiculous and melodramatic and sentimental of course, but exciting and brimming with energy and its own kind of generosity. What a Christmas present. 
 
 Star Wars: The Force Awakens in-depth fan review: 'so much to obsess over' Read more 
 
 • Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in the UK and Australia on 17 December and in the US on 18 December ||||| ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is the best sequel yet 
 
 Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn) try to elude forces from the former Empire in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn) try to elude forces from the former Empire in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 67 Caption Close ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is the best sequel yet 1 / 67 Back to Gallery 
 
 “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was already destined to become the movie event of the year, but few could have predicted this: The seventh installment in the series, started by George Lucas in 1977, is the best “Star Wars” sequel yet and one of the best films of 2015. 
 
 The “Star Wars” phenomenon has become bigger than movies, capturing the imagination of the world. Fans have somehow kept the faith and grown in number, despite weak and worse sequels, and now, finally, their investment has been rewarded. 
 
 Directed by J.J. Abrams, this new episode, opening Friday, is both grand and human scale. It features many action sequences — skirmishes, attacks, laser gun battles and hand-to-hand (and light saber to light saber) combat. But none of it is overdone, and none of it feels overstuffed or at the expense of the characters. It is what the first “Star Wars” was, and what the series always was when it was at its best, a story about people caught up in troubles they didn’t look for, who rise to the moment. 
 
 The film comes three years following the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney for a reported $4 billion. The sale gave Disney the right to take the story anywhere it wanted, regardless of its creator’s desires, and apparently Disney rejected Lucas’ own story outline for this film and two sequels. That’s a painful thought, like something out of a “Star Wars” movie — a father forcibly separated from his offspring. But at least this time out, Disney is not the evil Empire. It’s hard to imagine any “Star Wars” movie better than the one they’ve made. 
 
 Needless to say, with two more films planned, as well as spinoffs, it’s quite possible that sooner or later this will become too much of a good thing, or even a bad thing. But as they do at the end of most “Star Wars” movies, it’s best to rejoice at good news and let the sequels bring what they may. 
 
 Homage to the past 
 
 “The Force Awakens” picks up the story where it left off in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” (Yes, there have been three “Star Wars” movies since, but they were prequels that only took the story up to where the original movie began in 1977.) “Jedi” ended with the dark, repressive Empire destroyed and the rebels victorious. The rebels were led by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher); her Jedi Knight brother, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill); and her rakish lover, Han Solo (Harrison Ford). 
 
 The opening scroll fills in the last 30 years. As in the original, the words scroll up on a slant, against an outer space background, something innovative in 1977 that looks charmingly low-tech today. In a nutshell, the former rebels — that is, the good guys, who went on to form a Republic — let their guard down, and now elements of the old Empire have reformed under a new configuration called the First Order. This evil entity is gaining in power and poses a threat to peaceful planets all over the universe. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker has vanished, and no one knows where he is. 
 
 Everyone wants Luke 
 
 One of the running themes of “The Force Awakens” is the adaptability of evil, and how the fight against it is like a lethal game of whack-a-mole. The staging of a First Order rally and the rigid posture and fanatical screeching of a First Order orator are meant to call to mind Adolf Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies. But the exhausted recognition that the fight is never over will remind many viewers of the fight against the Islamic State, preceded by the fight against Al Qaeda, preceded by the Cold War struggle against communism. It never really ends. 
 
 The older characters know this, and they have that awareness in their eyes. Ford, Fisher and Hamill reprise their roles from the original trilogy — that’s the one thing everyone knows going into this episode. None appears at the start, and for a little while every time someone takes off a helmet or turns to the camera, we expect to see one of them. Perhaps the greatest thing about the movie is that, by the time the first of them does appear, the audience is fully engrossed in the story and in all the characters, old and new. 
 
 Basically, everyone needs to find Luke. The First Order wants to find and contain him, because he represents the greatest threat to them. As a Jedi Knight, he can harness the Force (a supernatural, beyond-the-senses source of power) to train other Jedi Knights and defeat the bad guys. And the Resistance (the former Republic) needs to find him for the same purpose, to lead their side to victory. 
 
 Like in the original 
 
 The storytelling in “The Force Awakens” is masterful, in that it seems to be taking its time but is always moving relentlessly forward and coming up with surprises. At the start, Poe (Oscar Isaac), the best pilot in the Resistance, leaves a map to Luke’s whereabouts with his robot, BB-8, a round little fellow who looks like a snowman. What a perfect design in movie terms — somehow the robot looks both adorable and like an underdog. Immediately, there’s a rooting interest. 
 
 Soon the robot comes into the possession of Rey (Daisy Ridley), a young woman who lives alone and scavenges on a miserable, bleak planet. Joined by a renegade stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega), Rey and the robot do their best to elude the First Order, who is coming at them with everything they’ve got. Fortunately, Rey is not your average young scavenger. She has remarkable mechanical skills and seems capable, just on an intuitive level, to fly any aircraft. Her talents are recognized by none other than Han Solo, who shows up with his buddy Chewbacca at a point when the movie has already hit cruising altitude. Ford takes it to a whole other level. 
 
 To talk about Ford in specifics would be criminal, as there is so much here that’s best left discovered. But to speak generally, “The Force Awakens” was created by people with a thorough understanding of what people love about Harrison Ford in this role — his irreverence, his grumpiness, his lack of showy heroism, his infinite capacity to be annoyed. Ford is everything in this film that a “Star Wars” fan could want him to be. Even if the film were only so-so, “The Force Awakens” would be worth seeing for Ford alone. 
 
 Humor and dimension 
 
 We’ll leave out discussion of Fisher and Hamill, because to talk about them would be to talk about their place in the story. It’s enough to say that they’re here, and it’s good to see them. 
 
 “The Force Awakens” has a humor that many previous “Star Wars” episodes have lacked. There are wisecracks and laugh lines that are outside the usual pattern, but nothing detracts from the world that George Lucas originally created. Likewise, characters are not all good or all bad but have different sides to them. Adam Driver is introduced as a fascinating new villain, Kylo Ren, who, like most of the main characters in “Star Wars,” has a tortured family history. Everything builds on Lucas’ work and serves to fill it out and ... yes, make it better. 
 
 It’s hardly fair to save the visuals for last, but there is so much else to say. They’re impressive and well thought out, particularly the lair of the First Order leader, Snoke (Andy Serkis). In what seems like an intentional perversion of the Lincoln Memorial, Snoke is enormous and sits on a massive chair, with a mummy face. We first approach him from the side, in long shot, and he’s monstrous. 
 
 Obviously, he’s got to go. Even if it takes another two movies, he’s got to go. 
 
 Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicle’s movie critic. E-mail: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle 
 
 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 
 
 Action-adventure. Starring Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. Directed by J.J. Abrams. (PG-13. 135 minutes.) ||||| 
 
 The Force has awoken. 
 
 The latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens, lands in theaters this Friday, and we know fanboys and casual movie-goers alike will have plenty to say about it once the end credits roll. We caught an early screening of the film and can already predict some of the conversations. 
 
 
 
 (WARNING: Though we don’t venture too far into spoiler territory, if you want to go into the movie knowing absolutely nothing, stop reading now.) 
 
 
 
 
 
 WATCH: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Cast Fields Your Fan Questions 
 
 Lucasfilm Ltd 
 
 
 
 1. “That was so much better than the prequels!” Which isn’t necessarily a difficult achievement -- The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith are almost unanimously considered to be a, ahem, misstep in the Star Wars pantheon -- but we’re happy to report that The Force Awakens easily clears that low-set bar. Is it better than the original? Could it ever be? Still, though the latest installment can be a bit corny and heavy-handed at times, the action is awe-inspiring, the effects are otherworldly, and it packs so much heart. 
 
 
 
 2. “They ruined my childhood.” Obviously, there will be a certain subset of die-hard fans who hated it before they saw it and will hate it after seeing it. Maybe they will complain that it hews too closely to A New Hope. (In a lot of ways, it’s basically the same movie.) Maybe they’ll hate some of the retconning done to characters like Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess-turned-General Leia (Carrie Fisher). To those fans we say, see it again. We have a feeling you’ll be less critical -- and more emotional -- the second time around. 
 
 
 
 3. “Did the other movies have that many jokes?” Not exactly. The Force Awakens leans heavily into the humor -- the first third of the film is basically slapstick and we’re pretty sure one of those Stormtrooper gags is straight out of a Family Guy episode-- but most of it works. Oscar Isaac, in particular, is endlessly delightful as Poe Dameron, quipping in the face of the villainous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), “Are you talking first? Or am I? Who’s supposed to talk first?” 
 
 And forget whatever controversy exists over whether John Boyega’s Finn becomes the first black Jedi --despite Samuel L. Jackson having already done just that -- the real question is, could Finn become the first bro Jedi? Do they serve Natty Light at the cantina? 
 
 
 
 MORE: Don’t Know Anything About 'Star Wars'? Here’s a Beginners Guide 
 
 
 
 4.”I LOVE BB-8.” R2-D2, who? We all fell in love with the circular little droid as soon as we laid eyes on him, and you will not be let down by his presence in the film. BB-8 steals literally every scene he’s in. We could -- and would gladly -- watch a whole spinoff of him interacting with C-3PO. 
 
 Lucasfilm Ltd 
 
 Speaking of, even if you don’t really *get* The Force, come for the adorable aliens! You’ll be absolutely charmed by Lupita Nyong'o’s Maz Kanata, who’s a bit like the Yoda of The Force Awakens. More of her too, LucasFilms people. 
 
 
 
 5. “[Insert excited rambling about Han Solo.]” Or any of the characters from the original trilogy. There are so many callbacks to the OG Star Wars -- maybe too many -- with Leia, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the droids and the ships, and what seems like everything in between getting prime placement. None more so than Han Solo and Chewbacca, though. In the theater we saw it, every time a familiar face was re-introduced -- always in an epically dramatic fashion -- it was accompanied by crazed applause from the audience. 
 
 
 
 6. “Women actually spoke!” Princess Leia has always been a badass, but Star Wars, the franchise, hasn’t always been progressive when it comes to female roles. Basically, there haven’t been any. Thankfully, The Force Awakens makes up for lost time. There’s General Leia, still badass after all these years. There’s Captain Phasma -- and can we just say, for this having been the year of Gwendoline Christie, damn if she hasn’t been seriously underused. 
 
 And then there’s Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, who might be the most badass of all. A favorite moment? When Finn grabs her hand to run at one point and she shouts, “I know how to run! I don’t need you to hold my hand!” So does the film pass the Bechdel test? Ehhh, we’re not positive. Does Rey talking to a CGI female alien count? 
 
 
 
 WATCH: Daisy Ridley Says Seeing ‘The Force Awakens’ Was ‘Overwhelming’ 
 
 Lucasfilm Ltd 
 
 
 
 7. “When does Episode VIII come out?!” We knew The Force Awakens would set up a new trilogy of films, but two moments -- both involving the mysterious Rey -- will have fans clamoring for that sequel. Thankfully, they will have plenty to theorize about over the next few years, because all those questions you had about the new additions to the galaxy far, far away? They are not answered. But to answer this question: May 26, 2017. 
 
 
 
 8. “Did [SPOILER] really [SPOILER]?!” Alas, we can say no more. It would ruin it! 
 
 Now, if you’re worried about Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers, don’t worry. J.J. Abrams tells ET, “You haven’t seen anything!” 
 
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– The review embargo on Star Wars: The Force Awakens ended early Wednesday, leaving critics free to tell the world just how much they loved it. The majority had nothing but praise for director JJ Abrams' reboot of the beloved franchise, and even those who thought it was hit-and-miss say it's easily the best Star Wars movie since 1983's Return of the Jedi. A spoiler-free roundup: "There are very few films which leave me facially exhausted after grinning for 135 minutes, but this is one," writes Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian, praising Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan for creating a movie that is both "a narrative progression from the earlier three films and a shrewdly affectionate next-gen reboot." The Force Awakens "is ridiculous and melodramatic and sentimental of course, but exciting and brimming with energy and its own kind of generosity," he writes. Abrams has "united the original cast with a group of newcomers who mesh seamlessly with their elders, in an ensemble effort that brims with the chops and brio of a great jam session," writes Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post, praising new cast members like Daisy Ridley who "shoulder their responsibilities with skill and confidence." Star Wars fans are certain to love the movie, writes AA Dowd at the AV Club, though he feels Force Awakens may contain a little too much nostalgic "fan service." "What Abrams has done is strip Star Wars down to its core components, rearranging the stuff people liked about the original trilogy and getting rid of what they hated about the rest," he writes. This is the best Star Wars sequel yet and one of the best movies of 2015, according to Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle, who's relieved that Disney, which bought Lucasfilm in 2012, hasn't turned out to be the Evil Empire. "It's hard to imagine any Star Wars movie better than the one they've made," he writes. Abrams "blends the old with the new, along with a fanboy's love and a director's skill, and the results are thrilling," writes Bill Goodykoontz at the Arizona Republic, who says even "casual" Star Wars fans—if they exist—will find a lot to love. "What Abrams has done is find and return the ingredient crucial to the original three films in the franchise that was sorely lacking in the second round: fun," he writes. Click for 8 things you'll hear upon leaving the theater after seeing the flick.