I think you nailed why I didn't like it -- I straight up didn't like Tony and couldn't connect with him (nothing against Pacino, the man acts his ass off in virtually everything he's in). Not connecting with Tony kinda disengaged me from caring about his journey.

Tbf I've only seen the movie once and it was something like 20 plus years ago, so maybe older and more mature me would feel differently on a second viewing.