One of Liam Neeson’s ‘very best performances’ is a film he is hardly known for and barely in

One of Liam Neeson’s best performances is not his role in the Star Wars series, Batman Begins, or even Schindler's List, like you might guess. According to highonfilms.com , it’s the 2016 film Silence.

When rating Liam Neeson ’s top ten performances, highonfilms.com placed Martin Scorsese's Silence as Neeson’s second-best performance, right behind Schindler’s list, where the actor was nominated for best actor at the 1994 Academy Awards .

The film is about a Jesuit priest, Father Ferreira, played by Liam Neeson, who goes missing during a mission trip to Japan. The film, with a run time of two hours and 41 minutes, only features Liam Neeson for the second half.

• Walmart shopper humiliated as she films herself shoplifting at self-checkout and gets caught by AI
• The 'A-list' celebrities who 'attended' Diddy's infamous 'white parties

“Neeson’s role is fairly small and seen almost entirely in the latter half of the film. Still, it remains one of the actor’s most fascinating characters,” film fan Aadesh Gupta writes.

“There’s a conflict in Ferreira’s character between faith and survival, embodied by Neeson with a pain sharper than any other role he has played.”

The main stars of the film are Adam Driver, who plays Father Francisco Garupe, and Andrew Garfield, who plays Father Sebastião Rodrigues. The two venture to Japan to go looking for their missing mentor, Father Ferreira.

• Taylor Swift makes major change to Eras Tour after many fans left disappointed

• Liam Neeson receives heartfelt gift from comedian after devastating cancer diagnosis

Earning 83% on Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer with 290 reviews, the critic consensus describes the film as one of Scorsese’s “finest works”.

“Not all so-called passion projects are able to convey actual passion on screen. This one does. Silence feels like both an ardent reaffirmation of faith and a lonely cry out to God in the dark,” wrote top critic Max Weiss on January 12, 2017.

“Neeson's character, when he finally shows up, is complex and wary after having survived so long,” wrote Anne Brodie on August 24, 2018.

The Irish actor started his acting career in theater, before moving to film in the 1970s with his onscreen debut in Pilgrim's Progress.