Weak acting and script

At no point did I get the impression I was watching something profound. The script never moved beyond the surface level, while leaving little to the imagination at the same time. At points, you could think Driver and Garfield had disagreements on faith, yet those were never addressed or discussed. I felt there wasn't any actual arc to the characters and Garfield's in particular, who flip-flopped between beliefs and attitudes seemingly at random.

Of course, the weak script could have been salvaged had the acting made up for it, but alas, it's the opposite. Driver basically doesn't emote at all, and never gives off the impression of being an empathic priest or stout believer in god. The same applies to Garfield, who has a couple of emotional outbursts at least, but fails to come across as believable or convincing during any of them. Him going "insane" for a brief moment when seeing his own reflection (and Jesus's) was particularly odd, with his grimaces bordering on parody, especially since he goes back to normal within seconds. It always felt forced, and I never got the impression he was a tormented or conflicted soul, more like a mildly interested bystander. Neeson is the only one bringing some much needed gravitas to his role, and all of the Japanese actors are excellent, too.

Overall, I am still of the opinion that Age of Innocence (1993) was the last good directed feature by Scorcese.