The Star Christian Movie Review (2017)

Guidance: Talk Together

This chapter leans heavily into war, peril, and spiritual-style Force themes while also exploring failure, legacy, and moral choice. For many Christian families, the main questions are less about sexual content and more about battle intensity, mystical worldview elements, and the film’s mixed moral messaging.

Why This Guidance Level

This film is not driven by sexual content or crude material, but it does carry sustained battle tension, repeated danger, and a strong mystical framework through the Force. Its themes of power, failure, and choosing a path can open meaningful conversations, yet the spiritual ideas and mixed moral framing are significant enough that many Christian parents will want active discussion rather than passive viewing.

Faith & Worldview Perspective

The story reflects real longings for courage, sacrifice, perseverance, and the need for wise guidance. At the same time, it presents the Force as a spiritual power outside the truth of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, and it treats moral struggle in ways that can feel emotionally compelling but spiritually blurred. Parents may want to discuss the difference between fictional mysticism and Christian hope in Christ, who is not an impersonal force but the living Lord.

Truths Reflected

• Courage and self-sacrifice matter in the face of evil.
• Mentorship, humility, and learning from failure are important parts of maturity.

Tensions to Discuss

• The Force functions like a spiritual reality detached from the God of Scripture, which may confuse children about where true power and guidance come from.
• The film’s moral vision can blur clear categories of good, evil, and redemption in ways that may need biblical grounding.

Content & Discernment Markers

Occult & Spiritual Content

• Force-centered training and supernatural abilities are central to the story’s worldview. The film treats this power with spiritual weight, which may invite discussion about how this differs from prayer, the Holy Spirit, and hope in Jesus Christ.

Sexuality & Relationships

• Sexual content does not stand out here. Relationship material is light and secondary to the larger conflict.

Identity Themes

• The story explores belonging, legacy, and the pressure to define yourself through power, family history, or personal choice. Parents may want to discuss where identity should be rooted according to Scripture.

Violence & Intensity

• Large-scale conflict between the Resistance and the First Order drives the film, with repeated battle scenes, pursuit, weapons fire, explosions, and ongoing mortal danger. The action is sci-fi in style, but the threat level is sustained enough to shape the viewing experience for younger or sensitive children.
• Characters face repeated peril during escapes, confrontations, and military attacks. The film emphasizes pressure, loss, and survival rather than graphic injury, but the tension remains frequent.

Language & Humour

• Language concerns are not a major feature. The tone includes sarcasm, banter, and put-down style humor more than clearly coarse speech.

Other Content Notes

• Themes of failure, disillusionment, and letting go of old expectations run through the story. These ideas can be thoughtful, but they may also leave younger viewers with a more cynical emotional tone unless parents help frame them with biblical hope.

Notable Moments

• Mentorship and power: A major thread follows Rey as she seeks guidance in understanding her abilities, placing spiritual-style training at the center of the story.
• War and survival: The Resistance remains under pressure from an authoritarian enemy, creating repeated scenes of battle, pursuit, and danger.

Discussion Prompts

• Power and spiritual source: When a story talks about an unseen power guiding people, how is that different from trusting God and following Jesus Christ?
  • Biblical guidance: Scripture points us to God as personal, holy, and sovereign, not to an impersonal force we learn to use.
  • Scripture: Isaiah 45:5, John 14:6, Acts 17:24-28
• Failure and growth: What does this film say about failure, and how does that compare with how God uses weakness and repentance in our lives?
  • Biblical guidance: The Bible does not hide failure, but it leads us toward humility, repentance, and grace rather than despair.
  • Scripture: Proverbs 24:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, 1 John 1:9
• Good, evil, and moral clarity: Did the movie make right and wrong feel clear or blurry? Why does that matter?
  • Biblical guidance: God’s Word teaches that evil is real and that true wisdom begins with fearing the Lord, not redefining good and evil for ourselves.
  • Scripture: Isaiah 5:20, Micah 6:8, Romans 12:21
• Identity and belonging: Where do people in this story seem to look for identity, and where should Christians find theirs?
  • Biblical guidance: Our deepest identity is not in power, heritage, or achievement, but in belonging to Christ.
  • Scripture: Galatians 2:20, 1 Peter 2:9-10, Ephesians 2:10