I really wanted to like this flick. I wanted be contrarian and say that the critics were wrong. Unfortunately they weren't wrong. There are so many logic holes and leaps of stupidity, that it's just too difficult to list them all.
This flick is the ultimate in resting on laurels. How many times did they need to have Bale say "This is John Conner", all dramatic and crap? I get it, you're John Conner, savior of humanity. You're the "one man who taught us how to fight the machines." But guess what, you haven't actually done anything yet, so shut the fuck up and earn your stripes, asshole!
At one point they literally have Conner say "I'll be back." It wasn't that funny back in 84 and it's jaw droppingly stupid now.
There are some good things though. The sound is awesome. All the machines make this heavy, gear grinding sound, that's scary cool. Some have been critical of the grimy, grey/brown look if this thing, but I don't know how else you'd color a post apocalyptic film? I thought it looked fantastic ... mostly. Anton Yelchin, who I originally didn't think was a good choice to play Kyle Reese, was great. Sam Worthington was great also. He and Yelchin made this thing watchable.
But the rest of the cast was just going though the motions. Moon Bloodgood's character looks good in leather, but was generally retarded and if anyone is a machine, it's Bryce Dallas Howard.
I'm a big fan of the machines vs. people genre, particularly this story. I watch the TV show regularly and if you're a fan of the franchise, I highly recommend it. Hopefully they'll act like this movie was never made and go with the story in the TV show. I'm sure that's not gonna happen, but it would be a good call.