GORILLA THRILLER

longstanding Hollywood convention, he teams up with Naomie Harris’s geneticist, which means we have two non-white actors saving a white “guy” who is a noble savage.

Harris offers droll commentary on the alpha-male posturing between Johnson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s government agent.

There’s a cheery disregard of physics, biology and science in general, in favour of giant lab rats in outer space, huge wolves attacking military helicopters and massive crocodiles crushing downtown Chicago.

Functional dialogue exists only to link one scene of CGI mayhem to the next.

Director Brad Peyton was also responsible for Johnson’s previous adventure films, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and San Andreas.

And this reinforces the Fast and Furious actor’s brand as the go-to-guy for outlandish blockbuster adventure.

Based on the 1986 arcade game, this follows hot on the heels of Johnson’s mega-smash game-based Jumanji sequel, which coincidently is released digitally from tomorrow.

But where that film cleverly generated a range of gags using the language of video games, Rampage ignores the gaming aspect.

This enjoyable numbskull nonsense has the tone and tempo of a Saturday morning cartoon, but parents be warned – it’s a bit too gory for the under-10s.

CHRIS HUNNEYSET