Spoiler alert! Star Wars plot and opinions ahead

Spoiler alert! Ever since the release of “Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens” it seems anything and everything written about the movie is prefaced with a spoiler alert.
As someone recently noted on Facebook, spoiler alerts have Americans working closer together more than at any time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
That being said, if you have not yet seen the movie and don’t want to know details about it, stop reading here. It has been two weeks since the Force awoke in cinemas across the globe and I figure if you have not seen it yet, you’re probably not that big a fan (in which case you’re probably not interested in reading this column).
I have seen the movie twice now. The first time I came away with a bad feeling about it. The second time I was braced for impact and could enjoy the subtle nuances and the overall experience much better.
As we learn in the opening crawl, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has disappeared. A young Jedi he was training turned to the Dark Side and wrecked everything. From the ashes of the Empire, a new regime called the First Order has arisen. The New Republic has crumbled and is now reduced to a band of rebels calling itself the Resistance.
Both sides are urgently seeking Skywalker, who has purportedly gone in search of the first Jedi temple. Part of a map leading to his whereabouts is given to Resistance fighter Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on the desert planet Jakku. Before he can escape, the First Order attacks and he is captured. The map is hidden in his droid, BB-8, who does get away.
The little, round robot encounters a young woman named Rey (Daisy Ridley), who makes a living scavenging parts from crashed Imperial Star Destroyers and other wreckage. In the meantime, Poe Dameron is tortured and interrogated by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the rogue Jedi who turned to the Dark Side.
A Stormtrooper (John Boyega) with a conscience (FN-2187, who Dameron would later name Finn), breaks Dameron out and they escape in a TIE fighter. During their escape, they get shot up and crash on Jakku. They are separated in the crash and Finn assumes Dameron didn’t make it.
Finn goes in search of civilization and meets up with Rey and BB-8 at the same time the First Order finds him. They flee under attack in a junked ship that turns out to be the Millennium Falcon. After they escape Jakku, the ship breaks down and they are captured by none other than Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter mayhew), the true owners of the Falcon who had it stolen from them years ago.
To make a long story short, the five of them go through some misadventures with the First Order in hot pursuit. Rey is captured by Kylo Ren and the others are reunited with the Resistance, including General (formerly Princess) Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Poe Dameron and R2-D2, who has gone into a low-power hibernation since Luke Skywalker vanished.
Our intrepid heroes go off on a mission to rescue Rey and destroy the Starkiller Base, a planet that has been converted into a weapon much larger and more powerful than the Death Star.
Without revealing the end, I will say that with the exception of Han and Chewie, all of the old school characters have only cameos in the movie. There is a good reason Luke is missing in all the promotions for the film; he is barely in it. The part that just ruined it for me was seeing one of the old school characters die. I came out of the theater feeling like I had lost an old friend.
Director J.J. Abrams ramps up the excitement and energy in this movie, essentially doing for Star Wars what he did for Star Trek, only with more respect for what has come before.
After seeing the movie a second time, I picked up on a lot more of the story and came away with a deeper appreciation for the characters, adventure and action. It clearly sets up Episode VIII, which we must wait until May 26, 2017, to see.
In the meantime, we can slake our thirst for Star Wars with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” that comes out Dec. 16, 2016. It is a stand-alone anthology film that takes place between Episodes III and IV. Reports indicate that we will have a Star Wars movie every year through at least 2020. That news has me spoiled and on alert for great fun and adventure ahead!