After ten years away from the big screen, “Star Wars” returns in epic fashion as the new saga to the sci-fi epic begins, with the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Fans feared for the worst upon hearing the news that Disney had purchased the rights to the franchise for four billion dollars, but faced immense pressure to not screw up the series, Disney delivered.

The quality of this film harkens back to the original days of “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” If you were to watch the original trilogy and then watch this latest installment, the movies would flow almost perfectly with only a few hiccups along the way. However, for the most part the quirks and experience that viewers have come to expect with a new “Star Wars” movie remain the same. Storm troopers are as inaccurate as ever, and the clever character design returns, along with the gorgeously choreographed lightsaber battles.

The major downfalls of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” occur early on. The opening portion of the film is awkward and doesn’t seem like your traditional “Star Wars” movie, making me worry that Disney had in fact screwed up a franchise that cannot be tarnished in any manner. The awkwardness is, however, understandable and near unavoidable as director JJ Abrams was tasked with introducing a whole new generation of characters. With the inevitable struggles that go along with the introduction of a new lead, storm trooper turned rebel Finn’s character seems especially forced as we a see him abruptly switch sides in a drastic way with seemingly no motivations.

Despite the drawbacks that come along with having to restart a franchise after a ten-year absence, the film is overall incredible. Throughout “The Force Awakens” I caught myself smiling as my mind thought back to the days when I was seven years old and watching “Star Wars” for the first time. Abrams does an exceptional job of making “The Force Awakens” a near replica of all the pieces of a “Star Wars” film that fans have salivated over for the last ten years. Everything from the constant jawing back and forth between characters to the mysterious inaccuracy of storm troopers returns in this installment. Abrams even went so far as to include seemingly exact remakes of classic scenes throughout the Star Wars series. These include a passing mention of the trash compactor scene from “A New Hope” and an almost direct reconstruction of the fan-favorite scene from “The Empire Strikes Back” where Vader speaks his famous line, “Luke I am your father.”

I went into watching “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with the same feeling as many fans, that of apprehension and a desire for Disney to not ruin “Star Wars.” These feelings proved to be unfounded as I found the movie to be an exciting new entry to the series with many twists and turns along with several new characters that fans look forward to learning more about. Along with being a great overall movie, it will also instill a burning sense of nostalgia in many fans. Aside from a few minor hiccups early in the film, “The Force Awakens” is an awe-inspiring movie that at times seems like a project George Lucas would have made had he possessed the technology.

“The Force Awakens” is a must see for anyone who believes they like movies of any kind in the slightest; in other words this movie is for anyone.

Rate 9.3/10.