James Woods in Salvador - Anyone else think he's...kinda amazing?

Okay, so I finally watched Oliver Stone's Salvador last night. Man, what a TRIP. I knew going in it was gonna be intense, but whew. I'm still processing. Thing is, while the whole conflict and depiction of El Salvador in the 80s was brutal and important, I kept getting pulled back to James Woods' performance as Richard Boyle. He's SO unlikeable, right? Selfish, arrogant, a total mess. And yet...I found myself strangely invested in him. There's this scene where he's trying to get his journalist credentials sorted out, spouting off about being a photographer...and you can just see the desperation and the sleaze radiating off him. But then, you see glimpses of actual humanity, especially in his attempts to get Maria back. It's messy, flawed humanity, but it's there! I'm not saying he's a good person, not at ALL. But Woods manages to make him feel REAL, even when he's doing awful things. It kinda reminds me of Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon in that way...you can't condone their actions but you kinda understand the desperation. Did anyone else feel that way? Or was I just too distracted by the '80s hair and the sheer chaos of everything to judge him objectively? Also, side note: the cinematography during the battle scenes was Insane. Super raw and effective. What were your thoughts on the overall depiction of the conflict? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the specifics of the history.