‘Star Wars’ geeks, we’re home

ence of Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, C3PO and R2D2 along the way. But it’s the new material that ensures they can safely launch the rest of the new trilogy.

First among these new additions is British actress Ridley, whose Rey emerges as a strong woman character with skills — martial, mechanical and otherwise — that make her engaging and interesting enough to encounter in the next two movies (slated for 2017 and 2019, fans). Rather than a Keira Knightley-crossed-with-Emma Watson clone, Ridley is sharp, focused, funny and feminine. Her male cohorts — Boyega and Oscar Isaac as hotshot pilot Poe Dameron — are less fleshed-out, but probably will stick around for the duration.

Interestingly, Disney has invested in yet another “empowered princess” in Rey: she’s clearly a badass female who is only beginning to understand her powers (check out her Jedi mind trick on a stormtrooper, and her dawning ability to recognize the Force). Will Rey draw female viewers to Star Wars the same way Luke and Han drew young male fans? She’ll probably draw both sexes, she’s that good.

A question remains, and it’s really a $4 billion question for Disney: how much of Star Wars’ enduring appeal will rely on the “early adoptor” memories and nostalgia, and how much will be generated through a whole new generation of fans? Disney knows the answer to this: it doesn’t matter, because older fans pass along their geek love for Star Wars to their kids, and grandkids, and so on. Somewhere along the line, those kids will get enticed into a story about a hero’s journey, whether it’s Luke or Rey, and the battle between good and evil. It’s mythic stuff, after all.

As for the recycled storyline, this didn’t seem to upset the fans at the worldwide premiere, who were up for some of the energy, the one-liners and detailed “used future” that Abrams’ re-launch provided. Yes, and some of the old magic. Star Wars has always relied on a knowing awareness that space operas have existed since Edgar Rice Burroughs and Flash Gordon serials; the original scripts were peppered with great lines that helped you root for the characters, but also poked fun at the whole retro genre. Here, Harrison Ford (along with his lifelong partner, Chewbacca) provides a lot of that mojo; but Isaac as a wisecracking pilot and Boyega as a stormtrooper defector in over his head also provide suitable comic moments.

Driver is certainly quite hate-able as the evil Kylo Ren (in wannabe Darth Vader headgear). He’s kind of like most millennials: thinks he already knows what makes the universe tick, and thinks he’s at the center of it all. Expect to grow to hate him even more. There are small but crucial roles by Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, a 1,000-year-old pirate who helps Rey find her way; and Andy Serkis plays the latest in a line of evil overlords, this one named Supreme Leader Snoke.

Mostly what director Abrams has done here, like his Star Trek reboot, is successfully resurrect a popular series by appealing to both hardcore fans and newbies. The humor in The Force Awakens tweaks the past, but in a respectful way. And, being a fan himself, he has reexamined what made Star Wars 1.0 such a worldwide phenomenon. Some of that mojo is captured here. May the Force continue to guide the second and third chapters, which we can’t wait to imagine.