38 years after “Episode IV: A New Hope” blew movie-goers off their feet, the release of “Episode VII: The Force Awakens” signals the reemergence of one of the most iconic movie series’ of all time.

Disney bought the rights to the franchise for over $4 billion in 2012, and “The Force Awakens” kicked off a series of Star Wars movies that will release over the next five years.

This time, the plot revolved around destroying yet another Imperial space station, something all too familiar after the Rebel forces did the same thing in “A New Hope.” The gracefully aged duo, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, brought Han Solo and Leia Skywalker into present day, clearly an homage to the success and popularity of their characters in the original trilogy.

Senior Chris Sonnenshien felt similarly to the way I did after leaving the theater, disappointed. Sonnenshien said, “I was expecting it to be great because of how much it was hyped up, but I just didn’t think it was very entertaining.”

For other students, the newest installment exceeded expectations. Junior Carter Heisinger had nothing but high praise for the movie. Heisinger said, “I loved the storyline and the combination of old and new characters”

“‘The Force Awakens’ was a fantastic film, second only to ‘A New Hope,’” said Senior Joe Graves, who had a unique idea of why it’s so popular among high school students. “It’s cool because this is like our generation’s Star Wars movie.”

For Junior Daniel McNerney, the experience of going on opening night made it memorable. He explained how everyone applauded when the theme song first came on and when Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon made their first appearances. “The environment was so much fun on opening night.”

There seemed to be a struggle to showcase the new characters and still give the old stars their well-deserved screen time. “You also want to make way for the new characters to have their own stories. You need to separate this movie from the original trilogy,” said Graves.

One of the more prominent characters is the newest leader of the Dark Side, Kylo Ren, who mistakenly takes his helmet off in one scene.

Why he would take off his helmet I have no idea. The whole point of wearing a mask is the added intimidation factor and to keep the audience guessing as to what Kylo Ren actually looks like.

Unlike most people who saw the movie, senior Kevin Brennan had a different opinion of the unmasked villain. “I thought it was good [that he took his helmet off] because it showed that he has insecurities and is more human.” A fair point, but now whenever Kylo Ren comes on screen the only thing people will picture is the way he looks without a mask.

R2-D2 was also a familiar face that was not prominent in the new movie. Replacing such an iconic character like R2-D2 is no easy task, but Director J.J. Abrams nailed it. BB-8, the new droid that takes R2’s place aside the star characters, was a clear fan favorite. Senior Grace Paul said, “I absolutely loved all the new characters, especially the new droid. BB-8 was so cute.”

Looking ahead to the next installment, Brennan said, “This movie mimicked ‘A New Hope’ a lot, so I think the next one will be like when Yoda trained Luke Skywalker. Except this time it’ll be Luke training Rey.”

With such positive reviews, the next addition to the series has a lot of pressure to be as good as A Force Awakens. Episode VIII is set  to release in 2017.