The movie should have stuck with the Terminator formula of a basically simple plot, with a single goal or problem. Instead, they tried to do everything and it ends up a mish-mash. And way too much exposition when they should trust us to figure things (anything) out.
John Connor/Christian Bale just comes off like a humorless a-hole, but the two unknown (to me) guys who play Kyle Reese and Marcus Wright were pretty good. And the Marcus actor is a fine looking young man.