‘Star Wars’ rediscovers its Force, says fans

CEBU, Philippines – It may be one of the most hyped films of all time, but “Star

Wars: The Force Awakens” opened Wednesday to ecstatic reviews from both fans and critics.

Fans who had waited a decade for the next episode of the space saga emerged from the first screenings in France and Scandinavia clearly moved, with some even in tears.

“I was happy to see Luke Skywalker again,” cried Suzanne Sundsvall, 55, as she left a cinema in the center of the Swedish capital Stockholm.

“I’ve lived with the character Han Solo since the first movie, when I was 17. I even have a Han Solo car license plate.”

Others who had flown halfway around the world to see the film in Paris two days ahead of release in the United States, said it had been worth “every cent” of the cost.

A smiling Tim Mersch, 44, from Las Vegas, who had spent “several thousands dollars” to see the film early, said it had breathed new life into the franchise.

“I just want to see the next one now,” he said.

The first critical reactions were also overwhelmingly positive.

“‘The Force Awakens re-awoke my love of the first movie and turned my inner fanboy into my outer fanboy,” wrote The Guardian’s critic Peter Bradshaw.

“There are very few films which leave me facially exhausted after grinning for 135 minutes, but this is one.”

Another British critic, Christopher Hooton of The Independent, was equally effusive.

‘Film we were hoping for’

“This is the film fans were hoping for, and it’s an indisputable improvement on the abhorred prequels. ‘The Force Awakens’ oozes the style and composition of the first trilogy, and will not look awkward stood next to your well-worn ‘Return of the Jedi’ DVD.”

After months of teaser trailers that raised more questions than answers — and a Hollywood premiere Monday from which the celebrity audience emerged smiling but sworn to secrecy — there were fears the seventh film in the series might disappoint.

But French fan Sebastien Guillemot, 40, who brought his 11-year-old son Lucas to a packed first screening in Paris, said, “It’s working its magic again.”

More than half a million people pre-booked tickets in France alone for director J.J. Abrams’ two-and-a-half-hour epic, which goes back to the story’s roots.

Box office records are also expected to tumble in South Africa, the Netherlands and Thailand, where the film also opened ahead of its US launch.

“The Force Awakens” picks up the intergalactic story of good versus evil 30 years on from “The Return of the Jedi,” the finale of the original trilogy.

Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi master, has disappeared and Princess Leia, now a general, sends fighter pilot Poe Dameron to save him from the evil First Order.

Dameron fails to find Luke but gives his robot BB-8 a map showing how to reach him. The film turns on the robot’s adventures as he tries to get back to Leia, helped by Finn, a Stormtrooper who has turned his back on the Dark Side, and young scavenger Rey.