Video puts 'The Force Awakens' scenes next to 'A New Hope' counterparts

Anyone who has seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens knows that there are a lot of similarities between it and A New Hope. Of course, the big debate has been whether or not the similar stories were done tastefully, or were a shameless rip-off. Well, the similarities go far beyond the overall story, and one person set out to showcase just how closely many shots resembled the originals.

As you know, the Blu-ray release of the film is coming up later this week. Ahead of that, a rip has appeared on popular pirating sites, giving people a way to (illegally) get their hands on the film a little early. With the ability to cut up a high quality version of the film, one person decided to make a comparison video that showed just how far the similarities go. It's just over four minutes long, and it's worth every minute of it, (If you've already seen the film, that is. If you haven't, then I'd suggest turning back now.)

I'm of the mind that the familiar story needed revisiting. Sure, there were other ways to kickstart the new films, but I think J.J. Abrams did a fantastic job, and took the right approach. It's really a story that's been told time and time again, and we needed that sort of classic tale to give us that same feeling we had when we watched the first film.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

The comparison video above shows just how far J.J. went to bring back the magic of A New Hope. The film is about the beginning of a journey of a new set of characters, and it shows that history does have a tendency to repeat itself. I noticed a great many similarities during each of my screenings, but this video does such a fantastic job showcasing some of the ones that I missed. It's obvious that every one of these shots was a deliberate homage to the original.

I don't expect that the following films will have quite so many parallels. In fact, I hope they don't. However, to me, this was the perfect way to start things off.