My gaming skills are weak, but I still own an Atari 2600 and original Nintendo NES, complete with running pad and “Duck Hunt” gun. So, I have a working knowledge of gaming culture, enough to know when a film feels more like a disposable video game story – it’s all about gameplay anyway – than a feature film. That’s the best I can say about Dwayne Johnson’s latest action film, “Skyscraper,” a film drunk on its own self-importance, full of tiresome action.

Dwayne Johnson stars as Will Sawyer in “Skyscraper,” a new action-adventure film in which he must save his family trapped in the tallest building in the world. (photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

Ever play any of the “Call of Duties?” The story for most starts the same: a slew of news headlines provide the laziest possible exposition. “Skyscraper” does just that to inform us muggles about a unique piece of architecture in Hong Kong – The Pearl – the tallest skyscraper in the world, complete with a self-sustaining energy source thanks to billionaire philanthropist inventor Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han). A Steve Jobs type, he plans to fill The Pearl with residents to create a utopian society without need for the outside world. Apparently “Skyscraper” is science fiction parading as an action thriller.

But before heaven is a skyscraper on Earth, unknown saboteurs turn the place into a towering inferno. One problem: most of the Sawyer family – Sarah (Neve Campbell) and twins Georgia (McKenna Roberts) and Henry (Noah Cottrell) – are still inside when chaos breaks out. Even bigger problem: husband and father Will (Johnson), tasked with overseeing security testing for the building, is on the outside but coming fast for his family. The enemy is about to meet the strongest former FBI agent and war vet with one leg on the continent.

What follows is a whole lot of the Rock fighting his way through police, gangsters and a burning building to save his family. So, it’s “Die Hard” with a more wholesome audience in mind (but we warned, we do hear one F-bomb, the new industry standard for remotely edgy PG-13 flicks).

Blockbuster cinema has come a long way from “Jaws.” Now, we need entire cities raised into the sky and whatever that “Transformers” trash does just to feel like the 3D ticket price is worthwhile (it never is). Even with that new (perhaps lower) bar, “Skyscraper” is just weird. The Pearl seems to have more depth than most characters, including Will. It’s a sci-fi premise similar to “Geostorm” (which is never a good comparison) but without much discussion about the finer points of the building. At least The Pearl does have a pretty sweet room decked out with reflective panels (just think mirror maze) that makes for a dramatic (and very cliché) final showdown.

The man at the helm of “Skyscraper” is an enigma. Imagine if the trailers read, “From the director of ‘Dodgeball,’ ‘We’re the Millers’ and ‘Central Intelligence.’” Rawson Marshall Thurber has a knack for comedy, which is entirely absent here, so I can only assume he needs a quick paycheck for his summer cottage in Tuscany (though he might have to settle for Fresno with this one’s poor box-office run thus far). North of $100 million budget and almost $25 million opening weekend, not looking too hot.

Dwayne Johnson appears as Will Sawyer and Neve Campbell stars as his wife, Sarah Sawyer, in “Skyscraper,” a new thriller that feels like a video game. (photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

Back to Thurber. How does he write and direct an homage to “Die Hard” without making a few wise cracks along the way? It’s a mystery, one best ignored by simply avoiding this film.

All “Skyscraper” does is remind me how much I miss playing video games. I’d love to, but my own twins create a skyscraper of hell that drains too much of my resources. You know what? I’m feeling motivated to update my Xbox Live account and get in a few good rounds of “Halo.” So, thank you Mr. Rock. I might not care about the tall building you scale this time (but I do adore you as a person, so don’t hate me), but you reminded me I need a good video game in my life, preferably one with a story just as pejorative.