Because recent movies suck, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, classic movies with just enough special effects to look good but not enough that spectacle compltely replaces plot. Basically everything in the predator/terminator/first 3 diehards time period.
Even effects-forward pieces like Jurassic Park still hold up because everyone on the island is a memorable character and the plot is exciting! Though it’s true that the constraints on effects might have caused that - the dinosaurs in that movie only had about 15 minutes of total screen-time, so they had to actually, y’know, write.
Yeah 80s/90s were the sweet spot for action movies. Most of them were naive and predictable, but also incredibly easy to digest. I’d say it was kind of WYSIWYG in movie space: good guys were good, bud guys were bad, plot was easy so your dog can comprehend it, no complicated backstory, no bullshit, just action and enjoyable fun.
The sad thing is something like diehard has a pretty nuanced plot compared to last few years of avengers movies.
