‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: Early reactions are in

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – the seventh movie in the unparalleled sci-fi series – has blasted into the record books with wild applause, cheers and the world’s biggest-ever premiere.

J.J. Abrams did not seem to nervous about the film’s critical reception: “I feel very confident about the work that was done by the actors”.

Although it might be a long time before would-be Jedis can fight like Luke Skywalker, a team of scientists have said some Star Wars technology is closer than you think.

And as for force fields – a Star Wars-style version has already been patented by Boeing to protect soldiers from shockwaves.

And the Mirror was there in the famed TCL Chinese Theatre, where the first Star Wars had its premiere 38 years ago, as the audience burst into applause the moment the famous logo burst onto the screen and whenever a familiar face appeared.

He said: “It’s a film about families and what one generation leaves behind another generation has to deal with”.

She said: “Introducing that amount of energy make a lot of heat, enough to melt the Death Starif it fired up – not sure how the Imperial forces got round that one”. “That is what resonated with people”.

“We’re really disappointed because we are big Star Wars fans, and we were hoping to at least see a little of the celebrities”, said Natalie Arnet, a tourist from Paris. Nyong’o plays the role of Maz Kanata in the film. “#ForceAwakens made me a giddy 10 year old all over again”.

“It’s insane. I feel enormously guilty for this community, this neighbourhood”, he told starwars.com.

“Finn is the first Stormtrooper where we have gone into his individuality, he leaves the First Order and meets Rey and BB and they go on a journey together”. “Old/new/funny/heartbreaking. Daisy Ridley is astonishing!”

“I felt it was progressive as a female character, there was a liberation in the body being covered in practical armour and for the focus to be on the character rather than the way the physical form looked”.