Where are the characters?

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2011)

Sat down to watch this for the first time last night, expecting great things given the various gushing reviews from the critics, and of course that famous, unexpected defeat of Avatar at the Oscars.
First things first, the cinematography is first class. The depiction of war torn, downtown Baghdad is suitably bleak, tense, and intimidating, with hidden roadside bombs, hostile locals, and insurgents who blend into the crowd giving our heroes a number of challenges in addition to their day job of defusing and making safe IEDs. The sense of tension and the general awkwardness and danger of being unwelcome foreigners in a hostile land is both palpable, and established firmly very early on in the film.
Unfortunately, after this promising start, the film goes downhill rapidly. What we have is a sequence of documentary style depictions 'days in the lives', which quickly degenerates into a repetitive sequence of bomb defusing, bit of shooting, the odd explosion, another bomb defusing, a bit more shooting and so on. Beyond this, there is no plot to speak of, and apart from Renner's character Staff Sergeant William James, Bigelow gives us no insight into any of the other characters, what makes them tick, or who they are.
The whole film felt to me like Renner, plus a load of extras who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time just standing around, pointing their guns, sweating and looking scared. And as a result I didn't really care if they lived or died. Compared for example to Saving Private Ryan, which engages you with a number of characters, and builds empathy to the degree where their deaths or even their fears have a deep, almost personal effect on you as a viewer, this falls woefully short.
There are also question marks around James, the one character we do get to understand a little bit about. Brilliantly acted by Renner, James is a bit of a cliché as a good old fashioned brilliant, but slightly unhinged genius, who follows his own rules, and does things his own way (basically a reheated version of Maverick from Top Gun). And if that means putting himself or his team in harm's way, then so be it. I have no direct experience of the US Army, but the concept that any disciplined force would allow someone to habitually disregard procedure, endanger themselves, and more importantly their team without consequence, and flip the bird to a superior when asked to stop doing something, is frankly laughable.
There are some good moments. Renner's banter with the entrepreneurial, porn dealing street kid "Beckham" is one example, but my overriding questions remain. Where are the characters, where is the plot, and ultimately, what is the point? I cannot believe this won an Oscar.