I have mixed feelings. It's hard for me to truly judge since I have not read the script posted, though having read through the forum responses on it, I have a pretty solid idea of the plot and the whole "Super Predator" and "Black Super Predator" business.
It looks to me, based on the pics, that the 3 Preds conform to a typical build when it comes to group dynamic. You have the Average build (The left Predator), the skinny, sleek build (the middle Predator), and the "Big Guy" build (the right Predator).
The Mask designs themselves lend to their body types. The left Pred's mask looks like the original with a jawbone slapped on. The middle Pred's mask is long, angular, and sleek, implying finess, athleticism, and ferocity. I can almost be positive the middle Pred is the leader of the group. He also doesn't have any bones on his mask, which I want to believe is because he doesn't need to show off. He is a badass in his own right, and the other two Predators adorned their masks perhaps to try and look tougher, fiercer, and more experienced than they actually are.
I also appreciate the fact that their chests are exposed, but their back is heavily armored based on the actors sitting in the chairs. This implies to me that, like iin the original films, they do not fear being unprotected there. They consider it more honorable to be vulnerable from the front where there opponent will be facing them in combat, but also don't want to be hit with a cheap shot from behind, hence the added back protection. A bit of a smug hypcorisy there since the Predator as we know is often cloaked and at an advantageous point in which to engage in long-range combat while stealthed. But that's true to the Predator. Though they have a code of honor they abide by, they also give themselves advtantages, and obviously would rather blow themselves up and take their prey with them rather than lose. The most awesome of sore losers award truly belongs to this alien race.
If these are your standard Predators, then I am pleased, and I feel they work as a whole. There's nothing mind-blowingly unique here, but they have just the right amount of simplicity and intrigue to follow in the footsteps of the Predator featured in at least the first film. I feel the Preds at the end of Predator 2 were more unique in design than these. Even if most were wearing very similar armor, their masks and trophy adornments were more diverse. Especially the Predator Elder in P2. I love that design. He could kick all three of these guys asses with his left pinky. These Preds don't look like seasoned warriors to me. Again, this is fine if they are regular Preds, and actually makes sense based on what I know of the story.
However...
...if they're intended to be the "Super Predators," then this greatly worries me. I would expect significantly more advanced technology on them, a much more unusual armor design, and much more "grotesque" features as a whole. I don't mean something gratuitous when it comes to grotesque, but there really isn't anything about them that makes them different from what we've seen before. They're too average to me to be Super Predators, but perhaps "super" is the wrong term here. These could be nothing more than Predators with a different ideal in how things should be done, but even if that's the case, the 3 should have something that sets them apart obviously from a regular Predator that we've come to know as a character. And it should be an obvious thing, something that clearly says "I am not like other Predators." A marking, an iconic, unique weapon we can associate them with,
anything.
These designs just don't have that "thing" that separates them from anthing we've seen before if they are indeed the Super Preds.
I do have faith it will be a good film, but I'm just not seeing anything new here visually. The more I look at the pics, the more I do like the three preds, and the unmasked Pred is indeed excellently done, but it's all so very much the same. Predator 1 and 2 were both different and offered new things to the table. Maybe their
Spoiler
animal friends, hehe
will be something new enough to stir up the mix, but I hope there's some new and unique tech. P2 definitely stepped it up with new and innovative items such as the breathing mask, a more advanced medkit, the slicing net, the throwing disk, and even the shoulder canon was unique to the previous incarnation in the first film, but it didn't overdo it by just making things "bigger" and "Pointier" like a certain AVP film did... P2 was a fantastic sequel, even though for some very odd reason, it doesn't appear to have as much acclaim as its predecessor. It added to the mythos in a subtle, reasonable, and not too over-the-top way.
I hope P3 is great, I really do. It's a film I am excited and hopeful for, and I want it to be great. I know enough not to judge it based on set pics, but at least I could throw down my 2 cents and maybe try to add some reason behind the designs in my own opinion.
Thanks for reading, and I hope there is a lot more to see, and that the Super Preds, if these aren't them, are indeed amazing and unique.
