Intensity in itself does not make a good story

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2009)

Such high ratings for this film! I went with a friend to see The Hurt Locker in hopes that it might be along the lines of In The Valley Of Elah, which was an insightful and emotional look at how a single event ripples out to affect many people, changing the courses of their lives. There were only a few moments in The Hurt Locker that achieved any sense of this type of insight or emotion.
Instead this film seems mainly to say that it takes a kind of mania to survive the experiences of wartime, especially in the focused role of the main character. He was relentless in his pursuits, but we barely get to know him, what motivates him.
One tense scene after another, after another, until I was basically numb to it, and really just wanted to tune it out, like the sound of a jackhammer.
I have to wonder at the high ratings other reviewers give this film. Did they also give high ratings to Armageddon? The two films are not in the same realm with each other, but they do share a certain preference of intensity-over-story that I just don't need to live through. The Hurt Locker was worth seeing, it does create a strong reality for itself, but I don't need to see it again.