X-Men: Finally, a good one...

Director Bryan Singer, the man behind X-Men and X2 is back after a three "X-Men" break.  Since his return, the world has seen numerous Wolverine films as well as three additional X-Men films.  With all of these films involving mutants and various world conflicts, many are probably asking why should i go see this one OR what does this one do that makes it stand out?  Well, it's Memorial Day weekend and with the extra time on hand, it would be a solid investment when it comes to the movies.  For what it's worth, i give the movie a rating of 3.5/5.
At the end of X-Men First Class, we saw a young Professor X crippled due to a bullet that ricocheted off of Magneto and into his spine, paralyzing him.  This film, set in the present day, involves many of those same mutants and friends squaring off against an entity known as Sentinals.  If you are a nerd like me, you remember the comic books and think, "The big red/purple guys that are stupid, slow and can be killed by Wolverine."  Well, as it turns out, no.  These are machines that have been implanted with programs about mutants, as well as Mystique's DNA, allowing them to morph into or avoid the powers of other mutants in order to avoid being killed.  Bottom line:  they are Terminators with mutant powers. In order to avoid total destruction as a race, mutants must rise together, go back in time and stop the production of Sentinals from ever taking place.  They are able to do this by sending Wolverine back in time (because he can constantly heal) and fight/discuss/be a BA with mutants in the 1970's. Wolverine has one task, get Mystique to avoid killing a man named Trask.  Trask is played by our favorite Game of Thrones character, Peter Dinklage.  Trask doesn't hate mutants like many of his peers, but he does want to make a lot of money destroying them with weapons he creates.  Basically, he is Tony Stark without a conscience for good.
Anyway, Wolverine makes his way through the 70's meeting old and new mutants, while also avoiding his temper.  Hugh Jackman knows his roll in these movies and he does a good job helping keep the plot moving forward.  Among the characters that he meets along his journey is Quicksilver.  Quicksilver is a mutant that can move super fast.  In this movie, he is the only character that has fun with his role.  He helps Wolverine and others save Magneto from prison.  As a nerd, i was disappointed that Magneto was not told that this was his son, but i digress...
While the movie has good action scenes, fun characters and the right director back at the helm, I have the same problem with this movie as I had with Godzilla:  too many "stolen" parts from other movies.  I'm not saying that every movie must be original and knock our minds out of the world like Inception.  However, when most of the movie is giving credit to previous films, even films done by the same franchise, it takes away from what it was once trying to add to the current film.  Any time you deal with TIME TRAVEL, you must go up against any Terminator film, which this one does.  Even the "End of the World" scenarios seem like they came from T2.  Wolverine encounters so many "flashbacks" while he is in time travel mode that it seemed like Mr. Singer had a chance to throw insults at the other X-Men films that he had nothing to do with, as well as try to close gaps between films.  This all may be fine, it just seems a bit forced.
With all that said, the movie has a good pace, is solid and has a great cast from all the films, so there is that.  The film does bode well for the future of the franchise, which couldn't always be said.  The film simply ends, leaving the next director a lot of leeway in where they take the next film.  That may be good, but with the X-Men franchise, while the films are solid, the company or studio doesn't seem how to plot the course or have a plan with where to take these films in the future, unlike The Avengers and their characters.  They have a specific plan with where they go and in turn, they are able to give their films a bit more identity.