Yep, it’s totally a ripoff.

Except for the resourceful, non-whiny, non-princess female lead character.



And the black Stormtrooper with a crisis of conscience who’s also a main character.

And the female Stormtrooper captain.

And the most complex villain of the entire film series believably becoming more evil during the film.



And the mental Force duel.



And the climactic light saber battle.

And the cliffhanger ending.

And the basic, scene-by-scene structure of the entire film.



Mr. Plinkett of Red Letter Media recently made a video (dressed at the freakin’ Emperor, no less) leveling the same charge that it’s an ANH remake or ripoff. And it’s crap.



Yes, it had several similar plot beats that borrowed for the original trilogy. Wacky droids with secret info. Escape from a sand planet. Wise old character dies. Good guys defeat big bad space weapon. Fine.

I know of another film that apes A New Hope, by that logic, as much if not more than than TFA. It’s called Return of the Jedi.

It’s lazy and wrong to call it an replica of A New Hope, and it undercuts everything new and original that TFA brought to the table. The new characters were convincing and compelling, and the old characters were used in new and interesting ways.



And cool insta-bread powder. Which is really the MVP of the film.