THERE’S something about that Star Wars theme.

The second it strikes up — that oh-so-familiar brrrrrap of brass and strings — it sends a shiver shooting down my spine. I sit up in my seat, I breathe deeply, I feel every muscle in my body prone with excitement. A new Star Wars movie is cause for celebration.

Today’s newest release — Episode VIII, Star Wars: The Last Jedi — is a triumph by anyone’s standards. It follows three storylines: Poe and Leia attempting to outwit the First Order’s fleet; Finn and Rose Tico on a desperate mission to break a tracker beam; Rey struggling to come to terms with her power.

Hailed as the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back, it manages to be both spacey and human, sad and silly, profound and also profoundly moving. Critics are fawning, fans are thrilled and the stage is set for an epic final act in 2019 when this new iteration of the Star Wars universe comes to a close.

I spent most of the movie last night enraptured. And not because of the breathtaking action sequences or the dazzling effects. But because every single character who saved the world — the universe, the galaxy — in The Last Jediwas a woman. Every major heroic moment was spearheaded by a woman. Every kickarse character was a woman. Every great line was uttered by a woman.

And though it may not seem like it in the real world after the s**t-show of a year we’ve been through, at least in the realm of lightsabers and porgs and the Millennium Falcon, the future of the force is female.

Historically, the Star Wars franchise has not been a kind one to women. Though the original trilogy gave us Leia, so smart and steadfast and stubborn, they also dressed her in a slave-girl outfit. When creator George Lucas returned to make the prequels he filled them with insipid female characters who, despite being literal Queens, had little to no agency.

But in the 2017 Star Wars universe we have a veritable buffet of diverse women leading the charge on-screen. Leia is back, as immovable as ever, only this time leaden with the weight of Han Solo’s death and her son Ben’s turn to the dark side.

This is Carrie Fisher’s last performance in a movie, Star Wars or otherwise. In one scene, R2 replays Leia’s original message asking for help, stowed away inside the droid all those years ago. “That was a cheap shot,” Luke grumbles, and it is, and yet there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Back, too, is Rey (Daisy Ridley) — the undeniable lead of the series — who has graduated from the bristly orphan of The Force Awakens into a full-blown Chosen One in The Last Jedi. After she seeks out Luke for Jedi training it soon becomes clear that her powers are stronger than even she had thought. But she, like all Jedis before her, struggles with the dark side of the force.

media_camera Rey (Daisy Ridley) struggles with her powers. Photo: Lucasfilm via AP

Then there’s Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern with fetching purple hair), Leia’s deputy who must step up in a time of need. Holdo and Dameron (Oscar Isaac) butt heads over her style of leadership, which is cool, calm and collected. Dameron would rather “jump in a blaster and blow some stuff up.” He’s a trigger-happy, brash, look-at-me hero who doesn’t understand why Holdo’s plan to escape the First Order doesn’t involve out-and-out war.

media_camera Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Holdo. Photo: David James/Lucasfilm via AP

And then there’s Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran). What can I say about Rose Tico ... When we first meet her, she’s crying, mourning the loss of her beloved sister Paige, who sacrificed herself for the Resistance troops.

What struck me about Rose was how soft her power was — she is emotional, shy, reserved and humble — and how her smarts were often overlooked because her voice was quiet and her stature small. She’s not the Chosen One like Rey, but that makes her heroism all the more moving. Here is someone who stepped up, not because she knew she could, but because she wanted to.

No spoilers, but every major moment of heroism in the movie is spearheaded by a woman. And each time the audience whooped and cheered. In one particular scene involving Laura Dern and a very big spaceship — a moment that is sure to become one of the most indelible and enduring images of the Star Wars franchise — the whole cinema gasped collectively, held our breaths, and then roared with thunderous applause.

I left the movie elated, buoyed along by having spent two-and-a-half hours watching four women getting s**t done in very different ways.

Don’t worry, there are men in this movie too. But we’ve seen men be heroes before. This was very much a movie for the ladies.

The Last Jedi is expected to take in more than half a billion dollars at the box office this weekend. Half a billion dollars. Hundreds of millions of people will see this movie and its four diverse female leads, one of whom is the first Asian woman to helm the franchise in its eight film history.

Representation matters. It matters to the little girls who will watch this movie and see women in charge, in command, and in control. It matters to the little boys, too. I can’t even imagine how much it would have mattered to me as a little girl, seeing someone with my thick black hair and my olive skin and my almond eyes branded a hero.

May the force be with them.

This article originally appeared in Whimn and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as Why the Star Wars haters are wrong