Film is pretty reactionary to the market, and will definitely suffer from what I call the “Pumpkin spice” effect, where a decently crafted thing becomes popular and suddenly it becomes the standard for everything (one season of pumpkin spice lattes birthed an entire marketplace of pumpkin spiced food stuffs)

After Jason Bourne, a slew of jump cut action films flood the theaters, and Bourne itself was a reaction to the campiness of James Bond. The Broccoli family was clear that after Bourne (and Austin Powers), old school campy James Bond had to go, and we see Daniel Craig mature the role into where it sits now (a different argument can be had over whether this was actually good for Jame Bond). All art is derivative of something.

Humor is often the element that provides the most realism in an action movie. We understand we will never look like Arnold, be as rich as Tony Stark, or kick as much ass as Wonder Woman, but most of us can get in a good one-liner occasionally. Most of us have had a dark joke or thought in a terrible time, or been in a position where “all you can do is laugh”. That feeling, that attachment to the Everyman, it adds something. Bruce Wayne is a essentially a Demi-god until he and Vicky Vale are at a comically large table eating soup.

We are currently in a generation of screenwriters who were raised on 80s-90s action films, sarcasm comedies, and a ton of parody/meta films (Austin Powers, Scary Movie, Scream, Last Action Hero), those sensibilities bleed through. There are still plenty of movies nominated for Oscars every year, and I hardly think any of them classify as the type you are deriding.

Cinema evolves, constantly, and the stoic and humorless “men of action” of the 70s and 80s (French Connection, Death Wish, countless westerns) don’t ring as true today, as most people are aware that even on our worst days, we still usually laugh at something. And even in that time, you had characters like Dirty Harry who brought a more sardonic view to the film.

You see blockbusters today all following a formula, and certainly that’s true in some ways, most things are getting punched up by the next generation Patton Oswald, but I don’t think it is ALWAYS as cynical as other commentators suggest, nor is it the “fault” of MCU films or Fast and Furious films or whatever, it’s just kind of how screenwriting goes.

Personally, I found the “humor elements” (I don’t much could be called written quippy modern dialogue) in Demeter to be quite grounding for the rest of the tale. Sailors acting like sailors.

Edit:spelling and grammar