Let me say this upfront: X-Men Days of Future Past is emblematic of the worst extremes of digital movie making. Colors are overly strong to the point of being unnatural (a certain blue character looks more like a Na’vi than Rebecca Romjin’s version), while the rest of the image is washed out and dark. Due to an apparent creative misstep with the shutter speed (if you have any other theories, I’d love to hear them), motion has become a smidgeon too quick and un-life like, looking like a less extreme version of the controversial high frame rate we saw on the Hobbit movies. X-Men and X2: X-Men United are full of beautiful filmic images, and there’s a stylish panache to the visual throughout each. So why does Days of Future Past look closer to a behind the scenes video reel than a 200 million dollar tentpole? Key scenes felt robbed of a majesty they otherwise would have had, and although the average audience member might not consciously notice these problems, they can certainly feel them. Thankfully it didn’t stop X-Men: Days of Future Past from being one of the most enjoyable films to hit this summer.

Summarizing the plot for Days of Future Past is difficult. There are multiple timelines, past and future, and an ensemble cast unlike any assembled for a big budget film. Not far off from Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, almost every scene is a hello and a goodbye to a major star, here in leather or in makeup. The plot combines the cast from the first three X-Men films (plus spin-offs) with X-Men: First Class, leading to story that allows for acting giants Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James Mcavoy to take turns stealing scenes. These aren’t just stars: they’re top mark talent, and the number of nominations between them is staggering. Borrowing a page from the James Cameron school of time-leap plotting, the future—which is the timeline with the veteran cast—is war ravaged and deformed. We see it in shades of shadow and gloom, and the sense of fun Singer must have had while creating his dystopia is palpable.

In this timeline, mutant and human alike are hunted and quarantined—not unlike the concentration camps that bore Erik Lensher’s seething hatred towards oppression. Instead of shock troops and swastikas, wicked-cool but deadly robots called sentinels police the world, and only the worst of humanity remains. Their design is reminiscent of Evangelion, and they have the uncanny ability to adapt to whatever mutant they’re fighting and turn that power to their advantage—if they’re hit with fire they turn into ice. They’re adroit in their brutality and relentless in their pursuit. Fight scenes with the sentinels immediately rank with the series best, and show Singer’s effortless understanding of this universe. He’s a conductor, and each mutant power is an instrument. Portals open and close as fire and ice shoot between them, and these sequences are composed of longer takes that heighten their showmanship. They’re undisputedly thrilling, and mark a union of creativity and production value that’s lacking in most summer tentpoles.

Before the film hits the ten minute mark we’ve been told director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinsberg’s time travel rulebook, only to be told immediately afterwards there are exceptions to these rules. The original cast needs to venture into the past to prevent their grisly future, but due to a timey-wimey limitation, only Wolverine’s consciousness can travel to the past. It’s a testament to the film that what could have been a typically imperceivable web of time travel shenanigans somehow feels immediate and simple. There are surely problems with the continuity, but I was never provoked to question them—Singer masterfully gives the illusion that all the puzzle pieces fit.