Somewhere in a secret laboratory, a scientist is doing something that he shouldn't and now it's all gone horribly wrong. Contagion is spreading through the base and the staff are no longer what they were. Welcome to RESIDENT EVIL - Sorry, I mean DOOM

It's a fair comment because both are pretty interchangeable, right down to their videogame origins.They both involve genetically manipulated humans that become implacable killers that very difficult to kill and a small group of elite warriors running around dark corridors meeting their maker in messy, splatty ways despite the huge amounts of armaments they carry (See also ALIENS and, to some extent, PREDATOR).

It's fair to say that the phrase 'Videogame adapation' is one that leads to less than satisfactory results.RESIDENT EVIL wasn't great and even ALIEN VS PREDATOR was a let down. Then there is the matter of STREETFIGHTER and (whisper it if you dare) SUPER MARIO BROTHERS

This is no SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, which is to say that it's not cringe-inducingly bad, but it isn't exactly going to set the world alight either. It's a dumb, soldiers blast the tacky CGI monsters movie and if that's what you're in the mood for then you get what you pay for. It's also a nice selling point that because the cast are far from A list there is no telling who is going to get offed and who is going to get out. As the story progresses, it also becomes clear that there is no telling who is going to stay human and who is going to turn into a slimy alien neck-biter.

The Rock leads the cast, by virtue of being the name at the top of the list and by playing the leader of the soldiers. He doesn't out-act anyone else, but then there's not a lot of competition. Kurt Urban is his second-in-command, conflicted because this set of tunnels is where his parents got killed in by something he did as a child and by the presence of his sister, DIE ANOTHER DAY's Rosamund Pike, who just happens to be a top scientist who might hold all the answers or might be trying to cover up the whole mess.

The nasties mustn't get back to Earth or all hell will break loose, but the presence of a STARGATE ripoff 'portal' between Earth and the Mars location gives the threat of tension that never materialises.

Surprisingly, the CGI looks like really good videogame graphics and so never really allows you to believe in any of this.

Still, belief is not something that the makers were going for. All that DOOM wants to be is a brain-dead sci-fi actioner that you can sit back with a pack of beers, switch off your brain and let all the nonsense wash over you. If that's what you want, then it delivers. Anything more and you might want to revisit ALIENS, which did all this before and a lot better.