Disappointed Scorsese project

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2017)

SILENCE (2016) ** Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Ciaran Hinds, Shin'ya Tsukamoto. Martin Scorsese's Herculean effort to adapt Shusaku Endo's novel about Christianity under fire during the 17th century in Japan where Jesuits find themselves persecuted for their imposing their religious beliefs on the populace involving a pair of young priests (Garfield and Driver) to journey into the darkness to find a mentor (Neeson) and instead become immersed in the hell on Earth enforced. Riddled with torture, violence and questioning your faith is all old school Scorsese (who co-wrote the script with long-time collaborator Jay Cocks decades in the making) for sure but the film is a laborious slog-fest and very tedious in repeating its message and theme over and over. Garfield who usually excels has the whole film on his slender shoulders and fails to provide any real empathy for a character you basically want to scream at "Just Do What They Ask You To Do Already!"