To each their own, but I disagree, and I feel like the bolded parts are contradictory - the song is aggressively bombastic and does assault the senses, in large part due to the faster tempo. And the drum fill (and ensuing guitar lick) after the bridge when Flowers belts out "run for cover" is sublime.
It might be better live.
Personal oppinion and all that but "Run for cover" doesn't really compare with past killers tracks like "Mr Brightside" or When you were young" when it comes to energy. Its sort of caught between being a hard charging song like the afore mentioned songs and a Runaways style talking song with a few huge parts.
Here's Runaways.
https://youtu.be/TMbyWSGYUgc
Note how well the song transitions between sections how it breaths and how it alows Flowers vocals to shift gears between moments.
Now here's Run For Cover.
https://youtu.be/uC1vjuK4ODM
You can hear that the song is getting away from Flowers and he is hitting the beat behind the pocket and doing this makes every time he goes to a new bar feel rushed because he cant keep up with the song (because it has no space.) This rush is especially noticeable during section transitions (verse to chorus, chorus to bridge ect) where flowers vocal is constantly rushing through the pickup beat (where he should be breathing) because he starts his breath late and barely has enough time to take it which effects the richness and impact (punchiness) of the vocal.
In the past The Killers have used agressive guitar licks during transitions to give flowers a chance to catch his breath, but in Run for cover its the vocal that triggers the new section's build while having also sung the pickup beat.
See When You Were Young
https://youtu.be/IdWZgTvf4t0
Changing to 6/8 would help here because 6/8 time feels faster then 4/4 time and it would allow for 2 beats of breath. Followed by 1 full pickup beat in place of trying to fit everything into 1 beat of a 4/4 bar. Although the song is rushed i can't quite work out if the tempo is too fast or two slow. Changing to 6/8 would require messing around with that a little.