After more than a decade and several films, any franchise is likely to need an infusion of fresh energy, and that’s just what director Bryan Singer has delivered in the latest incarnation of X-Men. The new X-Men: Days of Future Past combines a star-studded cast, eye-popping special effects, welcome bits of comic relief and electrifying visuals for a film that provides what critic Richard Roeper calls “flat-out, big-time, big summer fun.”

X-Men: Days of Future Past begins in an apocalyptic present day where a crew of mutants led by Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Storm (Halle Berry) are threatened with extinction as they are woefully outnumbered by the Sentinels, machine-beasts designed to annihilate them. This is when old enemies Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) bury the hatchet and join forces with Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to come to the aid of the weary mutants.

At this point, the embattled mutants hatch a plan using that familiar solution to problems like these: time travel. Kitty plots to send Logan back to 1974, the year that Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) set future events into motion by killing off the architect of the Sentinel program. While there, Logan must convince the younger versions of Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to stop Mystique.

Much of the film takes place in the past, where we meet Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the mastermind of the Sentinel program. His good guy/bad guy performance is a highlight of the film, along with that of Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver, who darts through the action faster than the speed of light.

Like most of the more entertaining films of this genre, X-Men: Days of Future Past doesn’t always make perfect sense but it’s exciting and fun to watch, which is just what a summer action hit should be.