First time round Resident Evil based itself on the video game. This time it seems to be a cinematic version of the game itself.

What distinguished the original - a tale of security expert Alice (Jovovich) struggling to contain virus-stricken zombies in the subterranean Hive - was its tight plot and smothering claustrophobia.

This time that dynamic is lost, with the undead breaking out of their sealed tomb, they are above ground malevolently milling around Raccoon City searching for fresh blood.

Conveniently, Alice emerges from a coma at the same time and is soon out on the streets blowing big chunks of the undead away with a variety of large guns.

Hooking up with demoted special tactics trooper, Jill (Guillory) and crack special ops team leader, Carlos (Oliveira), they have to find a way out of the sealed city.

To spice things up scientist Dr Charles Ashford (Harris) says he will help them escape... if they first find his missing schoolgirl daughter.

There wasn't much subtlety about the original, but at least there was a stab at characterisation, and the frisson of the action taking place in a confined space.

This time it plays like Dawn of the Dead - but without the social comment and a limitless arsenal replacing invention and backs-against-the-wall ingenuity.

You really shouldn't wander into a graveyard if you know there's a virus on the loose which can turn a shortcut into a restaging of Michael Jackson's Thriller routine.

Similarly, you don't enter a gloomy school building where there's a strong chance zombie-fied nippers might make a meal of you and announce "Let's split up."

Technically slick but grimly formulaic, things also get weighed down with a sub-plot featuring a hybrid monster assassin which makes escape that little bit trickier.

If this was a pub video game it would be the one forlornly standing in the corner gathering empty glasses rather than intrigued players.

Tim Evans.