What Am I Missing Here?™: “The Hurt Locker”

Saw this in the theater and, yes, enjoyed it. A solid 7.5 entertainment. But the praise heaped upon feels way out of proportion. Are it’s fans bringing real world war time sympathies to the film and grading it on a curve or something?

Attempted to re-watch on blu-ray and try to see what I’m missing. Got 20 or so minutes into it and got bored. Liked it probably even less. Don’t particularly care for any of these characters. And they’re mostly stock characters. Don’t particularly like the action to go from set piece to set piece in lieu of actual plot. Overall, just didn’t do it for me.

And yet, I see some guy (nerdy, disheveled writer type) buying it on the release day at Best Buy. I worry about anyone who wants to watch this thing over and over.

What Am I Missing Here?™ is an infrequently recurring feature wherein Victor questions himself when his critical judgment and personal taste is out of step with the masses.