It's true.
All of it.
However, due to Harrison Ford kindly asking that everyone not spoil the film, I will endeavor here to give only the most basic of details so as not to ruin the plot for anyone. That being said, let's dig into The Force Awakens for a more in-depth review.
The film picks up after the last trilogy that people actually care about, and telling us that it is roughly thirty years after A New Hope with the Empire having fallen apart and given way to a new group known as the First Order...who are basically the Empire. Controlled by the shadowy and enigmatic Snoke (Andy Serkis), lots of Stormtroopers and Death Star chic going around...yeah, might as well be the Empire. To combat them, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) has formed a Resistance against them...which is pretty much just the Rebel Alliance anyway, so I'm not really sure why the change.
...oh, right, the New Republic exists now. Not that they do much.
Regardless, the big news is that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has gone missing and both the Resistance and the First Order are looking for the last piece of a map to find him. This map ends up in the possession of the adorable little droid BB-8 (who you've seen rolling around in all the adverts) so he/she/it can get it back to the Resistance, which eventually leads him into the company of Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega).
I like both of the new leads, Rey in particular goes through the most character development in the film, but I'll save that for those who see it. In the beginning, she's nothing more than a scavenger living on Jakku with many details that are spoilerific. To say nothing else, she is a good actress and I look forward to seeing more of her in the future as her character continues on said development.
Finn, too, is a pretty good character. A stormtrooper for the First Order, he defects and tries to escape at first, but later joins the good fight as we've come to expect from our heroes. Again, any further is going into territory of the spoilers but, needless to say, I rather enjoyed him in the film and Boyega really sells the emotions of his character quite well.
And now we come to the original cast - awesome. Unlike Harrison Ford's last attempt to return to a franchise after twenty years, it is awesome to see the man back as Han Solo. He's an older, wiser roguish space pirate now, but a roguish space pirate he remains. The man who will flee at the first sign of trouble but, in the end, will always come back and do the right thing no matter the personal cost.
Chewbacca is Chewbacca. And Chewbacca is freaking awesome. No further explanation needed.
Then we have Leia serving as the General of the Resistance. Much like her role in A New Hope, she...doesn't actually do much besides have some scenes with Rey and Finn and chat with Han about their past (the chemistry from Empire and Jedi is still very much there, by the way), but it is very nice to have her around if just to help give some continuity.
And, at last, we come to Luke, who I almost forgot...except for the fact that he's the reason that this whole adventure even happened to begin with. I've been told that Mark Hamill is due to have a much, much greater role in Episode VIII, but his appearance in this film would be like a Hitchcock cameo if not for its placement. Without wishing to spoil it completely, if you come into this film hoping for a lot of Luke, you're going to be disappointed. I know I was.
And now we come to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the Darth Vader expy who apparently has a great boner for the seven foot tall asthmatic warrior of the Dark Side. He's angsty...apparently feeling the "call of the light" in an ironic twist on the whole corruption by the Dark Side, but believes he'll be stronger by living up to the standard set by his idol, Darth Vader. And while he has no menace at all, much like Anakin in Attack of the Clones...it actually seems intentional here, rather than hilarious as it was in that film. He's conflicted, he's going through his own development. The story is as much about him as it is about Rey and Finn. And that's good, really.
The writing by Lawrence Kasdan helps a lot, considering he wrote Empire, which everyone pretty much universally agrees is the best of the Original Trilogy. Of course, there are some bits where you can feel the hand of J.J. Abrams on the film in dialogue and action, but those can't really be gone into without spoiling by pointing out specific scenes. Needless to say, if you've seen an Abrams film, you'll know it when you see it.
Now, there are a few things I don't particularly care for - such as the treating of characters like Luke, Han, and others as if they're mythic. I understand why it was done, from a standpoint of storytelling, but it doesn't make sense from a reality standpoint considering Luke, Han, and Leia were among the most wanted if not the most wanted individuals by the Empire during the Galactic Civil War and they're living in a high-tech setting where shit like that doesn't just go away by any means. Yes, they're mythic to us because of Star Wars being a long-running series that is beloved by so many. Yes, myths and legends may have sprung up about Luke Skywalker himself, but saying that the man himself is a myth when there is very verifiable evidence of him existing is really, really, really unnecessary and, let's be honest J.J., kind of lame.
Also other things that I can't get into because they're spoilers. Technically, that was a spoiler, but steady on.
But really, this film gives you pretty much everything you want and nothing you don't. For long-time Star Wars fans, it's a breath of fresh air and a feeling of elation at the fact that the dark times are over and we need no longer fear horrifically bad dialogue about sand or talk of microscopic bacteria in the bloodstreams of Jedi. For new fans, it could very well be their first step into a larger world. It definitely feels like a Star Wars movie and, for all its minor issues, it doesn't get ruined by them. The nods and homages to what came before are nice (though one could argue, probably without much room for argument, that the entire film is one big nod to the original trilogy) and don't bog down the story of the new generation.
The saga goes on...and from the looks of now (and the fact that they haven't gone the Into Darkness route yet), it looks pretty glorious...
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is now in theaters from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Lucasfilm.
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