I’ll have to wait til streaming to see Bandlands (I am on the mend with a knee injury)
The companion, as I understand it, isn’t female. It’s a synthetic.
There’s not much to glean from beefy men going up against a hunter... after the first movie. What went on in the ‘80s in terms of action movies, I’m not sure that can be duplicated in the late 2020s. Hollywood tried with Jason Momoa as Conan and it flopped.
I quite liked Weapons; horror is really in a great spot in today’s Hollywood. Wicked and Zootopia 2 will do huge business, so YouTubers saying Hollywood is burning, I don’t see it.
It's a synthetic female; like the one I deflate and put away when I'm done with her. Never complains or talks back, either.
Seriously though, Mamoa's "Conan (the Rotarian)" suffered from a disjointed story and writers who couldn't decide if it was comedic, horror or adventure - so they threw it all against a wall to see what sticks. Great opening scene, Rose McGowan was good, you can see Stephan Lang trying not to laugh while playing lead villain.
"Hey guys check it out...some guy named Howard wrote all about this guy. We should use some of HIS stuff."
Your thinking the day of machismo is over has John Wick, Nobody and Sisu saying otherwise. There's always a market for basic human archetypes no matter how much 'woke' Hollywood wishes otherwise. The box office beatings will continue until they realize they're in the entertainment - not reprogramming - business.
I was wrong and you were right...mostly. Just finished watching “Predator: Badlands” and it’s a good sci-fi movie on a stand-alone basis and when taken as part of the Weyland Corporation saga (like most of the Marvel films have a continuity). “Prometheus” depended on that larger story to overcome it’s inherently weak plot.
Drinker was right that over-humanizing Predators robs them of the mystique so well built over time, but I see it was necessary for this story about an underdog facing insurmountable obstacles. I didn’t feel preached at, either; which is a refreshing change of pace these days.