(there are no) SPOILERS BELOW (in this article)

Here’s all you really need to know: The new Star Wars film is really good. Maybe not top ten IMDb good but it’s gonna set up camp there for a while yet just as all universally (no pun) well-received blockbusters do. It rewards faithful fans of The Force by doing exactly what we want it to do: It has fun with things, it keeps a steady pace of action and it builds powerfully upon its own mythology.

The film begins with scrolling yellow text in space, getting all of that pesky exposition out of the way early on, as that famous music plays loud in the background. It is revealed that from the ashes of the Empire, a new organisation of evil has emerged: The First Order. Being as they were established from the ruins of a previous order the name sounds a little erroneous, but whatever. The Rebels are now the Resistance and it’s not exactly clear who holds more power of governance but suffice to say that those old Death Star blueprints weren’t lost in the galactic rubble. As far as the struggle goes, it’s about the same as the start of the original film except that the First Order have a few new faces in place of older ones. Domhnall Gleeson plays a Grand Moff Tarkin type, Andy Serkins (of Gollum fame) plays a holographic emperor fella known as the Supreme Leader and Adam Driver (Girls) is the ersatz Darth Vader, a masked Dark Sider named Kylo Ren.

We meet Oscar Isaac (who is in the top five best actors working right now – seriously, this film’s cast alone makes it worthwhile) as Poe Dameron, a hotshot Rebel pilot on an important undercover mission. He chats with Max Von Sydow who makes a memorable early cameo and then some bad stuff happens. (Von Sydow is an 86 year old Swedish acting legend who is having a Christopher Lee type late resurgence – he’ll also be in Game of Thrones next season). We’ll leave the plot explanation there, you’ll have to go and watch it. But crucially we are also introduced to Finn (John Boyega), a Stormtrooper who decides he ain’t about that life no more.

It might be the first time in the entire trilogy that we’ve seen the human side of the iconic armoured soldiers. Pretty sure up until the second prequel film came out I just assumed they were all robots (to be fair I was 11 when that one was released). They’ve always just been these faceless henchmen, which is perfect in a story of good vs evil considering how many of them get killed across the films. If we see their individuality then we see their humanity. Which makes it murder. And then, I guess, you’ve also got the fact that they were programmed to be killers from their youth. Finn says he was taken at birth and raised for war. In the prequels they trained clones – even more morally expendable! When your Empire is built upon an ideal of power and corruption, then the fewer questions your subjects are willing to ask the better. (Did the Empire have actual sympathisers or was it completely oppressive? Do people sit around their dinner tables on Jakku debating these rivalling politics?).

Of course, the Empire was always a thinly disguised Nazi regime. Really, really thinly disguised. I mean, they named their army ‘Stormtroopers’. And there’s a scene in this film which might make the most overt connection of all, not that it was ever a secret link. The Nazis are the western world’s least ambiguous baddies, so it makes sense.

Across the next two hours and change we’re zipped between worlds, we witness mass murders and several battle scenes. There are old friends and new ones. Lightsabers, X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon. A disturbance in the Force. There are twists and turns, and massive spoilers best not mentioned, in a whirlwind of entertainment that’ll remind you why you fell in love with this universe in the first place. As to whether it’ll win over new fans… harder to say. It does lean heavily on the legend of the originals in its middle act and Han Solo plays a pretty big part after he shows up. Not that I’m in any place to talk, I can hardly remember a time when I didn’t wanna be Luke Skywalker. I still do, he’s the Michael Jordan of Jedis and it seems like he spent the past few years prior to this film (it’s all in real word time, happening 30-odd years after the drama with the Ewoks) on his baseball hiatus, slugging away in quiet contemplation in the White Sox minors.

The only real complaint I’m hearing is that the film is derivative. Yeah, it is. It borrows so heavily from the structure and characterisation of A New Hope (and elements of Empire Strikes Back) that if you pay attention, you’ll be able to pick most plot twists before they arrive. They even use those fancy wipes between scenes! A lost art in most Hollywood filmmaking.

But then the originals were pretty derivative too. It’s Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, mapped out beat for beat in film, making it a near perfect example of mythmaking. Luke Skywalker’s rise from poor, hopeful orphan to a champion of destiny, overcoming many key obstacles and experiencing all the major milestones that mark the rise of a hero. Or, in this case, the Return of the Jedi.

The Force Awakens has its own similarly downtrodden protagonist in Daisy Ridley’s Rey. She lives on a desert planet and spends her time fiddling with electronics. She befriends a lost droid that carries a secret message. By that parallel alone you know that there’s something special coming in her future – and the billing on the poster confirms as much – but you’ll get no spoilers here. In fact her story is still pretty shrouded in mystery even after the final credits start rolling.

Something that too many people are missing when they take sparing shots at this one: It’s not a standalone film. It’s the first of a new trilogy and a reboot of a beloved franchise. The most important thing of all is that it plays by the rules and lets the masses file out of the cinema doors satisfied. Check and check. TFA revives Star Wars as both a critical and commercial juggernaut by bringing it back to the basics that established the whole cult to begin with and that’s all that it needed to do.

Sure they could have gone more in depth in Finn's moral crisis (which is pretty underplayed, to be honest) and both Rey and Kylo Ren are clearly due a lot more development along the way... but that's what the next film will be for. We needed this crowd-pleaser first to pave the way. And giving the second film in the trilogy all the creative flourishes is pretty in-keeping with the original trio too. Rian Johnson is directing that one, he did a handful of Breaking Bad episodes as well as films like 'Brick' and 'Looper' which I, for one, really enjoyed. That guy is a genuine filmmaker, to see what he does with the next script has me salivating. Apparently they're already shooting...

There are more questions than answers and there are more twists than resolutions. That's good, A New Hope didn’t solve anything either. We didn’t even get that whole paternal DNA test bombshell ‘til the end of Empire (imagine the Child Support that Darth Vader backed up over the years). But what that film did was… well first of all it gave a little teaser of what it was capable of with the introduction of Darth Vader, the capture of Leia and the escape of the droids. Intergalactic oppression and immense evil. Cool. But then we went to Tattooine. We met Luke Skywalker and the film took it’s time in selling him to us as a relatable hero. A New Hope had to earn that from its viewers and it did. The Force Awakens doesn’t have to, so it can move quicker from the start. I'd argue a little too quick, though there was a lot to fit in.

We don’t actually meet the original alums for quite a while, which is a great call on the film’s part. It’s already nostalgic even before you’ve taken your seat and that feeling doesn’t abate with the way the script unfolds. Yet the more time we spend with Rey and Finn and Poe and Kylo, the more the film sucks you in on its own terms. As one of the several trailers/teasers declared: Every generation has its story. This is a new generation and it is their time to face destiny. And they’re all worthy characters, from the steely self-sufficiency of Rey to the freshly committed moralism (and occasional comic one-liners) or Finn. (It's also quite meta, what with this being a new generation of fans for a new generation of films by a new generation of actors/filmmakers/etc.)

Oh and Kylo Ren. Man, what a villain he is. Compared to the ultimate power of Darth Vader, Kylo is no match, you simply aren’t going to create a bad guy to rival one of the baddest guys in film history. Which is why it’s cool that they didn’t try. Vader was introduced as a complete power whose weaknesses (the usual bad guy weaknesses: arrogance, complacency and paternal love) aren’t established until later on, however with Kylo Ren we see quickly that this is a man prone to the odd temper tantrum. He confesses to his doubts, he struggles with his internal conflicts. Plus, in a more explicit way, we actually see him fail at things. The dude is unhinged in a way that makes him very unpredictable and very fascinating and while some people are bound to disagree with that because of the Vader parallel, those people are missing the subtlety of what Adam Driver does with the character. He’s really good. Although I’ll give you that his name is stupid. Kylo Ren sounds more like an Irish office worker or something.

Shout out to J.J. Abrams. For a guy who had never made a proper good film and whose TV show turned to custard a couple seasons in, he’s done a fantastic job here. ‘Fan’ being the operative part there. He and the Disney folks have handled it so well, casting unknowns in Ridley and Boyega as the faces of the new generation especially, but also the way in which they’ve nursed this thing alone with their whole marketing strategy – short on details but long on sentimental hype. They’re about to see a massive reward for that.

And the myth-making is the best of it. From the hushed tones in which Luke Skywalker’s name is uttered to the many unanswered questions it leaves you with. This is a film that builds upon its legacy, rather than just filling in the blanks as the prequels did. You don’t need to join every dot. The space between is where the legend lives and this one, fittingly, just so happens to be set in space. If that sounds forced then it’s only appropriate, right?​