--- title: Vatican Newspaper Pans New Star Wars description: The film-critic at the Holy See’s daily newspaper was less than impressed canonical: https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-26T16:30:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:38:29.211Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Vatican Newspaper Pans New Star Wars og:description: The force was weak in this one, he writes og:url: https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted119eb852f9b2cb/698876e0bc6cfc56fb3dafed/501583788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-US-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-STARWARS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vatican Newspaper Pans New Star Wars twitter:description: The force was weak in this one, he writes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted119eb852f9b2cb/698876e0bc6cfc56fb3dafed/501583788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vatican Film Critic Gives _Star Wars_ Thumbs Down > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Photographing TIME's Star Wars Cover [Watch (HLS stream): Photographing TIME's Star Wars Cover](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KXrQmNTF.m3u8) (3:31)  _Published 2015-12-03. For the latest issue of TIME, Marco Grob photographed the cast members of_  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Dec 26, 2015 4:30 PM UTC  Star wars character Kylo Ren poses on arrival for the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in central London on December 16, 2015. Star wars character Kylo Ren poses on arrival for the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in central London on December 16, 2015.LEON NEAL—AFP/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Dec 26, 2015 4:30 PM UTC With the new Star Wars film _The Force Awakens_ [crushing](http://time.com/4160455/force-awakens-record-sales/) box office records and maintaining a super fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes a week after its release, one might be given to wonder what’s not to like about the latest installment in the world’s favorite sic fi franchise. Well, not everyone was [impressed](http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/new-star-wars-villains-not-evil-enough-says-vatican-movie-critic.cfm). The film critic at _L’Osservatore Romano—_the daily newspaper at the Vatican, an institution with nearly two thousand years experience in being disinterested in popular trends—has helpfully provided a litany of complaints about the film. The [latest](http://time.com/4156047/watch-stephen-colbert-explain-the-plot-of-star-wars-to-newbies/) Star Wars, writes Emilio Renzato, is “modeled on the sloppiest current action films derived from the world of video games. The only merit of J.J. Abrams’ film is to show, by contrast, how the direction of the previous films was elegant, balanced and above all appropriate,” he writes. Renzato went on to slam the films’ use of computer-generated imagery, calling it “the clumsiest and tackiest result you can obtain from computer graphics.” He also derided the villains Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke ineffectual, complaining that they both failed “most spectacularly” as representations of evil—a stinging rebuke from an entity engaged on a daily basis in spiritual warfare against the forces of evil. The scathing review is unlikely to influence Pope Francis’ decision on whether or not to see the movie, however since — as a Vatican source [told](http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/vatican-newspaper-slams-star-wars-force-awakens-n484306) NBC News — “he doesn’t watch movies.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/"},"headline":"Vatican Film Critic Gives Star Wars Thumbs Down","datePublished":"2015-12-26T16:30:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:38:29.211Z","description":"L’Osservatore Romano's critic was unimpressed by movie's depiction of evil","url":"https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/","keywords":["movies","Pope Francis topic","Star Wars topic","Vatican","Sci Fi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted119eb852f9b2cb/698876e0bc6cfc56fb3dafed/501583788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted119eb852f9b2cb/698876e0bc6cfc56fb3dafed/501583788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-US-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-STARWARS","caption":"BRITAIN-US-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-STARWARS","creditText":"LEON NEAL—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/","name":"Vatican Film Critic Gives Star Wars Thumbs Down"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Photographing TIME's Star Wars Cover","description":"For the latest issue of TIME, Marco Grob photographed the cast members of","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KXrQmNTF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-03T11:59:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KXrQmNTF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/","duration":"PT3M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4161601/vatican-star-wars-force-awakens-review/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```