Beautifully shot. Poorly paced. Sectarian Religion 'Beat-em-Up'.

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2017)

Beautifully shot: I was reminded of many Kurosawa films, Seven Samurai in particular. The performances are also strong and believable. Scorsese gets a far better performance from Garfield than Gibson could in the wreck 'Hackwsaw Ridge'.
Where the film falls down is in the dull and long-winded script. Paced in a "and then and then and then" fashion. Making the film a chore to sit through.
Sadly, the film resorts to incongruent narration in the 3rd act in order to wrap things up. It feels like a last minute editing decision to prevent the film from being four hours long.
It's a religious-zeal gore fest of unending brutality and suffering. Viewers with a larger world-view may find this film to be obtuse and childish.
*note* I am a dedicated fan of Scorsese's work, my favourite being King of Comedy. Therefore giving 'Silence' a 5***** rating was difficult for me. I wanted to enjoy this film, but couldn't. I feel that it is objectively a poor film.