The 1993 video game “Doom” was among the forerunners of the “first-person shooter” styles that have since flooded the industry. Now the big-screen adaptation of “Doom” can be dubbed the original “first-person shooter movie.”

Plenty of recent features have blurred the line between gaming and filmmaking (“House of the Dead” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!” spring to mind), but this ultra-violent, action-horror effort delivers an extended scene that utterly unites the two.

In it we see a Marine’s point of view as zombies and mutants jump out from darkened corners or attack in droves. It’s identical to a screen shot from the game, complete with rotating weapons in the peripheral foreground that help ensure the creatures meet a variety of bloody demises.

Whether the sequence is artistically valid is debatable, yet visually it offers a fresh perspective.

Aside from this new wrinkle, “Doom” is about as cinematically routine as imaginable.

The Rock stars as a futuristic Marine in the video game adaptation of Doom. The film opens today in Lawrence.

The futuristic picture is equal parts “Aliens,” “Resident Evil” and “Predator.” Or maybe “Stargate,” “Jason X” and “Ghosts of Mars.”

Actually, it’s possible there’s not a single moment in the movie – in terms of dialogue, plot or design – that can’t be directly attributed to another flick.

In the film, The Rock portrays Sarge, a Marine commander assigned to lead his squad to a research facility on Mars where a breach in security has occurred. Some scientists who were dabbling with fossil remains of a long-dead race are missing, and it’s up to the soldiers to investigate.

Complicating matters is that Sarge’s right-hand man Reaper (Karl Urban) has a loved one on the facility (Rosamund Pike), even though he and she are not exactly on speaking terms.

Although the team members first think the mission probably involves “nothing but a disgruntled employee with a gun,” they soon learn they’re dealing with forces that will take more than brute strength to conquer.

Director Andrzej Bartkowiak (“Cradle 2 the Grave”) and screenwriters Dave Callaham and Wesley Strick waste little time with exposition. They know the gaming audience wants to see combat and gore, and the movie certainly delivers that much.

A few sequences are suspenseful (a blind hunt in the sewer system), and a few characters stick out (particularly Ben Daniels as a religious Marine who performs self-mutilation every time he takes the Lord’s name in vain). A whole lot of others have no impact.

What prevents the movie from itself becoming a repetitious video game is a third act that provides some emotional oomph to the proceedings by rearranging the stakes … and the enemy.

The first-person

While the climax remains tremendously hostile and gory (the picture earns its R rating), the twist provides some interest to a movie so mired in familiarity.

Helping matters is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the muscleman knows how to pick roles that play to his talents. He’s an imposing, cool-looking guy who always exhibits an underlying sense of deadpan humor.

“Doom” is not The Rock’s best role (got to give that to “Be Cool”) or best movie (probably “The Rundown”), but he seems like the perfect choice to play Sarge.

Larger-than-life figures should feel right at home in a video game.