Vatican newspaper slams 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

ROME — It may have wowed audiences around the world breaking box office records in the process, but "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" found a tough audience at the Vatican.

Calling the movie "confused and hazy," a review in Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said that the film "fails most spectacularly" in its representation of evil. It added that the blockbuster "overdoes the darkness."

Darth Vader and the Emperor Palpatine were "two of the most effective villains" in the sci-fi genre of American cinema, it suggested.

See photos from the opening night of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens:"

However, the new film's counterpart Kylo Ren was called "insipid" while Supreme Leader Snoke was called "the most serious defect of the film."

The newspaper — which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Roman Catholic Church — suggested the the movie was more of a reboot than a sequel.

It added that the film was a "twisted updated which fits today's tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema," adding that it was influenced by the "sloppiest current action films derived from the world of video games."

A Vatican source told NBC News on Tuesday that it was unlikely that the review would have any impact on Pope Francis, because "he doesn't watch movies."

RELATED: 10 of Pope Francis' most provocative quotes

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