The problem with this film's premise (and its future subsequent sequels) is predictability. The audience has (too?) much knowledge as to what will happen, more than with the Star Wars prequels, and ultimately, that could make a boring movie.

'Terminator Salvation' seems to wander a bit in the beginning with a series of action beats that do not do much for the story, however, the character of Marcus Wright keeps the film interesting, as each scene kept me wanting to know more about what he is exactly.

It's when Blair and Marcus finally arrive at Connor's Resistance hideout that the pace picks up, which has a lot to do with Connor realizing that his idea and preparation of what he's supposed to endure is turned on its head, and he faces the dilemma of working with his perceived enemy to save his "father" against destroying Marcus and thus having a lower chance of saving Kyle.

Connor chooses the latter and falls for Skynet's okeydoke to kill Connor and Kyle at the same time, which heightens the unpredictability factor of the flick. The final fight between Connor, the T-800, and Marcus is suspenseful, especially given its conclusion, by which allows Marcus to redeem himself against his objective to infiltrate the Resistance and set up Skynet to kill Connor and Kyle.

Overall, I'd give the movie 7.5-8/10. What hurts the film is its slow pace in the beginning, but in addition to what happens after that (what I enjoyed), I think that:

- The T-800's introduction was very well-done. It's easily the best I've seen of both imposition-of-heads-on-another-body effects and CGI de-aging.

- The fact that molten steel did not destroy the T-800 was an interesting switch from what the audience may have perceived about 'T2'. Does that mean that some (if not all) of the T-800 remained intact enough to make the Judgment Day seen in 'T3' possible? Did Cyberdyne retain enough info about the original microchip that its destruction was inconsequential? Was this T-800 simply an improvement over the models used from 'T2'? Answering these questions in some form in the sequel(s) would be good.

- Kyle not being killed immediately was bad writing, until I realized that if Skynet did so, Connor probably would have agreed with Resistance HQ to bomb Skynet HQ, which probably wouldn't have worked anyway since Skynet had the HQ pinpointed for termination. Also, to clear up why Kyle was targeted above Connor, I believe that may have to do with Cyberdyne knowing that Kyle helped to prevent the first T-800 from killing Sarah Connor from either the 'T1' or 'T2' (if it did survive the molten steel) microchip, and so killing him first would provide Skynet with a fail-safe plan: if they kill Connor in the "present", that's good, but if they have to resort to going to the past to terminate him, it's improbable that anyone else would protect Sarah Connor as well as Kyle did (not to mention that Kyle is his "father" and is younger and maybe easier to kill).

- Even though John Connor says, "The only fate is what we make," the end result of each of these movies is that what is told to happen, does happen. In 'T1', Sarah Connor still becomes pregnant with John Connor (by a different father than the initial timeline?), in 'T3', the nuclear holocaust still happens after crisis was only postponed due to 'T2', and in 'T4', Connor still survives, seemingly attains a higher rank in the Resistance, meets Kyle Reese, gets his scars, and scores a large victory against Skynet. 'T2' is the anomaly in that it seems closed-ended, especially if you'd seen the alternate ending during the film's theatrical release (Judgment Day is averted indefinitely, John Connor becomes a Senator) (though the ride at Universal Studios may kill that), but since these movies follow the same continuity, maybe those questions I asked receive "yes" as an answer or the fate of John Connor and the world is simply inevitable.

- Anton Yelchin did a good job as a young Kyle Reese, but Jonathan Jackson (Kyle Reese from 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles') is a dead ringer for Michael Biehn in both look and vocals. I know that the TV series probably doesn't follow the film's continuity, but I think if Jackson plays the older Kyle Reese in the rest of these movies, the films as a whole would connect more smoothly (unless they can get Biehn to play him again with the CGI de-aging effects they used on Arnold).

I'm excited about what direction they'll take the sequels in to keep them from being predictable. I hear that Robert Patrick may return to explore the creation of the T-1000. One thing that I hope is explained is how the T-800 ages when the Resistance uses it.