The opening scene of “Rampage” features a sole survivor on a space station desperately trying to get off the ship before she is attacked by a giant, mutated mouse. The only way the corporation she works for will help her get to the escape hatch is if she agrees to bring some of the research samples back with her.

It’s a sequence that doesn’t end well for the female character, but director Brad Peyton stages it well, gathering the audience’s attention.

“Rampage” is all downhill from there.

The latest adaptation of a video game, this time starring Dwayne Johnson, is a giant mess of an action film, even messier than the remains of downtown Chicago in the film’s final act. It’s a movie that has one thing going for it – Johnson and a giant gorilla facing off against a giant wolf and a giant alligator – and then proceeds to go to that well way too often.

Johnson plays Davis Okoye, a primatologist who has developed a personal relationship with an intelligent gorilla named George.

When the remains of the research from the opening sequence wind up in George’s habitat, it causes him to grow at a rapid rate while increasing his rage.

Okoye teams up with a discredited genetic engineer (Naomie Harris) to find a way to save his friend, only to discover that George isn’t the only animal that has been effected by this research.

“Rampage” throws in a pile of subplots and supporting characters to flesh out the film and pad its 115-minute run time, but none of it works. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s secret government agent wears thin long before the final credits, while Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy as the brother/sister head of the corporation responsible for the genetic mutations may be the worst villains in recent cinematic history.

Everyone but Johnson plays their roles in such an over-the-top manner that the characters all feel as two dimensional as the video game the film is based on.

Johnson makes it a bit easier to take than it could have been, but a little of Johnson goes a long way – to the point where even his “it’s all in good fun” charm wears thin. His connection with George never feels as authentic as it should because George gets changed so early in the film that we really don’t have time to see their relationship evolve. George also isn’t very interesting, a bland bit of CGI that falls someone between Caesar from “The Planet of the Apes” films and Amy in the 1990s film “Congo” on the cinematic primate spectrum.

The lack of any real characters makes the final battle rather lifeless.

If you really want to see a flying wolf and a oversized crocodile lock horns with Johnson and the gorilla, “Rampage” might be mildly entertaining. But if you want your action films with a little more life, you can do much better than this pile of rubble.

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris

Directed by: Brad Peyton

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief language, and crude gestures.

Playing at: Regal Greenwood Mall Stadium 10, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow), Franklin Drive-In

Grade: D+