When director Ron Howard's "Angels & Demons" marched into theaters May 15 some people expected controversy like that which accompanied his 2006 film "The Da Vinci Code." Alas, I am sorry to be a killjoy, but audiences just may be inspired. I know I was.

"Angels & Demons" is a very different film from "The Da Vinci Code." It takes place in the Vatican and Rome with a side trip to Switzerland. The movie was filmed on a set that was constructed not far from Sony Studios in Culver City. The Vatican and the City of Rome refused most requests to film there apparently because of the fallout from "Da Vinci" and the cautions circulating about this film.

The Catholic Church of "Angels & Demons" is very male. No mention is made of the "divine feminine" and other points that caused so much doctrinal distress in "Da Vinci." In fact, God is hardly mentioned in "Angels & Demons." The film is very violent, however, despite the PG-13 rating.

The pageantry in the film contrasts with the good guys chasing those who seem to be many bad guys --- and therein lies the plot. Things are not what they seem.

One of the major plot points in the film is the relationship between the Catholic Church and science. According to the film, the Illuminati began as a secret society that resisted the Church's persecution of scientists beginning with Galileo (1564-1642) and now they are emerging again because of scientific developments that interest the Church. (In actuality, a group calling itself Illuminati were formed in Germany in the 1700s and lasted for about ten years.)

Dan Brown's books as well as the films based on them are fiction. I was in second or third grade when I learned the difference between fiction and non-fiction and admittedly much older when I started asking questions about books, film and television.

There are inaccuracies in "Angels & Demons" about history and Catholic practice such as who can be elected pope and how. For example, "acclamation" was one of the valid forms of papal election before 1996, but in the film they call it "election by adoration" which really irritated my Catholic ears.

Despite these annoying elements, I found nothing controversial in the film, nor did I find "Angels & Demons anti-Catholic." It is more about action than theology, unlike "Da Vinci" that attempted to dismantle Christianity. I interpret the worldview of "Angels & Demons" as commercialism struggling to become art.

Ted Baehr of Movieguide, a Christian organization that reviews films, without having seen the film, said in an April 29 fundraising letter about Angels & Demons:

"A clear anti-Christian message that not only are Christians evil and murderers but also that science has proven faith in Jesus Christ to be outdated! In the end, it is the highest echelon of the Catholic Church who is the villain!"

However, the official Vatican newspaper review (May 5) of Angels & Demons called the film "two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity."

As hard as some people have tried, "Angels & Demons" is not controversial. It is a Hollywood movie made with great skill, an intense thriller with a surprising, satisfying, moving and even inspiring finale. As the Vatican also noted, the filmmakers masterfully recreated the Vatican and various pieces of art for the film. The film is engaging and entertaining, contains scenes of peril and intense violence, and is about 20 minutes too long.

Daughter of St. Paul Sister Rose Pacatte is director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Culver. Her website is www.sisterrose.wordpress.com.

Seek the truth elsewhere

By Harry Forbes

"Be careful. These are men of God," one of the bad guys ominously advises Tom Hanks' symbologist Robert Langdon in novelist Dan Brown's fact-wrenching prequel to his 2003 fabrication, "The Da Vinci Code."

But "Angels & Demons" (Sony/Columbia) --- reworked for the big screen as a sequel --- mostly belies the jaundiced view of religion that statement would suggest, despite retaining many of the book's historical inaccuracies and Gothic imaginings about secret doings at the Vatican. Well, mostly.

L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, has recently dismissed the film as "harmless entertainment," though noting, of course, the bountiful factual errors and the fact that the film has "little to do with the genius and mystery of Christianity."

Even William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights --- which had issued a brochure debunking the book --- has opined, "Enjoy it for the fun of it, but don't be seduced by Brown-Howard into thinking it is based on historical facts." Well said.

Howard's adaptation is a better movie per se than "The Da Vinci Code," and, more importantly, less overtly offensive than that film. Christ's divinity is never questioned, and murderous albino Opus Dei monks are nowhere to be seen.

The script tones down or removes much of what was offensive in the book, and the ending is radically different in several important respects. Without giving any spoilers, suffice it to say the changes are all for the better. Though teasing viewers with Agatha Christie-like red herrings, they take care this time not to unduly offend.

The final image of the church is relatively positive, and the film actually ends on an affirmative note from a faith perspective. And ironically --- given Howard's location filming restrictions --- Vatican City looks quite splendid, with majestic aerial shots while the Hollywood re-creations of St. Peter's Square, the Sistine Chapel and other locales are, as noted by L'Osservatore Romano, "magnificent."

Though the film is rarely dull (if overlong), the story is hardly more textured than an average episode of "CSI," and perhaps less so. The characters are strictly one-dimensional, and one is always aware of plot contrivance. Final twists notwithstanding, the action is all too predictable.

L'Osservatore Romano's editor, Gian Maria Vian, rightly opined that the film posed no danger to the church: "It only confirms the centuries-old fascination with our faith and our symbols."

So see it if you must, for its thriller aspects, or for its highly picturesque Catholic trappings. But seek the truth elsewhere.

The film contains much action violence, some grisly murders, factually dodgy church history and ritual, some crass language and a profanity, and a suicide. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L --- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 --- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Harry Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.