J.J. Abrams "hasn’t just made a movie fueled by nostalgia, or a movie full of mythic echoes. He’s made a movie the series’ millions of fans have already seen. The Force Awakens is more like a remake or a mashup of the first two Star Wars pictures than a sequel.

Yes, in technical terms Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan are picking up the narrative some 30 years after the destruction of the Galactic Empire at the end of “Return of the Jedi.”

But they barely even pretend to advance the story of the initial trilogy; they rewind it and repeat it, with new characters substituting for old ones but many of the same action set-pieces, narrative dilemmas and hidden connections."

SpoilerDarth Vader has a copycat heir named Kylo Ren, who keeps his master’s melted helmet around and wears one of his own just to look cool. (He doesn’t need it to breathe, at any rate.)

There’s an orphan who doesn’t understand his or her true powers, a spectral demonic figure who is using the Dark Side to conquer the universe and a bunch of pompous generals with Nazi-like uniforms and a planet-destroying superweapon.

There’s a crazy bar full of aliens, a climactic battle on a catwalk inside a spaceship, an evil character whose good side may not be entirely dead, and the unexpected news that somebody is somebody else’s dad.

I could go on, and when you see this movie you will too.
- salon.com