People love the video game and I get that there must be a nostalgic delight in seeing favourite game characters on the big screen done with a modicum of quality.

For the rest of us, this is a competent if mediocre rehash of all of the post-apocalyptic zombie tales and tropes we have seen before in seemingly endless seasons of The Walking Dead and countless other shows and films of the genre. It's a journey through the ruins of civilization beset with zombies and the even greater threat of predatory human beings. Granted, there is the occasional flourish like the honestly touching Episode 3, but in general expect no surprises and you won't be disappointed.

If you want a fresh and novel take on the fall of civilization, seek out Station Eleven.

There's nothing I find more annoying than the sarcastic child character and the teenager Ellie is that taken to 11. It's a shame that this could have been an interesting character - a girl who has grown up entirely after fall of civilization, raised (presumably in seclusion) by the totalitarian government. A totally alien perspective, like a peasant from North Korea suddenly extracted and thrown on the streets of Manhattan. You get none of that from either the writing or Bella Ramsey's portrayal. Ellie acts and talks like a teenager from the present day - worse, like a 40-year old's vision of a teenager, as seen in anachronisms like Ellie casually picking up a cassette tape and popping it in the car stereo - as if she'd know what that was or how to make it work.