Very disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (31 October 2003)

I found this very disappointing. Okay, the sets were great, and Daniel Day Lewis gave a good performance, but other than that there was very little to enjoy or appreciate about this film. The fanfare that preceded this movie's release promised a great movie, but I found it depressing and soul-less. I think that to enjoy a story, you really need to relate to at least one of the characters, but I found every character as unlikeable as the next, with virtually no redeeming features between them.
The amount of gore seemed way over the top. If this was supposed to reflect the violence and lawlessness of the time, then it could have been achieved far more effectively. There was an initial shock-value from seeing close shots of hacking and slashing, but all that blood flying around quickly became plain boring, at best a bit nauseating, and only succeeded in reducing the 'feel' of the movie to that of some kind of cheap horror movie for a significant portion of the film.
I watched this twice, because I really couldn't see what the fuss was about. Can someone explain to me why or how this movie is enjoyable/great? I must be missing the point, and would be more than happy if someone could explain.