Why are modern movies so unengaging?

I was watching Jungle Cruise (2021) a little while back and blown away by how terrible it was. It came across as the most extreme example of a trend I have noticed for a long time now, namely that the stories in modern big-budget movies are told completely without rhythm, feeling, or engagement.

It’s the same with most recent blockbusters like Star Wars, Batman or Pirates of the Caribbean... Watching them are just like reading a long shopping list where they go through one scene after another, without making you care what happens in the least.

I find this to be especially noticeable in adventure movies when characters arrive at some amazing location, be it a castle, a huge cave, or a treetop village… And modern films don't give the viewer the time or opportunity to really admire the place and say "wow!" anymore.

Even though all such blockbusters are upwards of 3 hours long these days and have gigantous budgets where they throw billions of dollars onto the screen, it still feels like they just rush through the action, making the viewing experience akin to scanning through stock footage.

Now, it might be tempting to believe that the reason for this happening is all due to an over-reliance on CGI, or perhaps an influx of filmmakers with lesser experience? But if you look at big budget films like Mission Impossible which go to great lengths in creating all real stunts, or even Spielberg's more recent films such as Ready Player One, it's exactly the same: Just empty noise whizzing by for 3 hours, completely without engagement.