T2 Trainspotting - Review Thread

Danny Boyle is one of the best contemporary filmmakers out there and has made a name for himself for over 20 years mainly due to his unique and energetic style and the colorful cast of characters that match the flash and flair of his hyper editing and soundtracks.  Despite making a multitude of strong work since his theatrical feature debut in 1994 with Shallow Grave, none of his work has been more revered and a better example of his skill than 1996's Trainspotting.  The film, set in Edinburgh, Scotland, focused on a group of young friends addicted to heroin and unable to break from it despite their best attempts at doing so.  While Trainspotting certainly bears several grotesque depictions of heroin use and its consequences (none more infamous than the dead baby lying in the crib), Boyle interjected the film with so much energy and fun that the film is more known for its silly situations than the nastiness of heroin.  Mark Renton's (Ewan McGregor) free flowing voice over, the wild soundtrack, and the lack of a real plot until the very end made Trainspotting an instant hit and a film unlike any that had been made before.  Boasting as even more of a standout were the film's phenomenal sequences of Renton's heroin use, whether he's diving into a dingy toilet and swimming around a dreamlike ocean of blue, or when he overdoses and sinks into the floor and remains there while battling the withdrawals.  They're some of the most fantastically visual sequences I've ever seen in film, and so it's not hard to understand why despite Trainspotting's nasty topic so many people fully embraced Boyle's extraordinary vision and voice.  So it came as a surprise to me that Boyle was revisiting his most famous film and making a true sequel to it; set 20 years after the original and released 20 years after the original.  And yet I was also intrigued by this, as the characters in Trainspotting certainly had a lot more story to pursue, and to pick up the film when the characters are now adults is a risky but very interesting idea to explore.  The end result is a film that comes nowhere near touching the original and is absolutely only for pure fans of the original (though to be fair, why else would you seek out the sequel?) that have recently seen it.  I purposely watched the original for the first time in several years before seeing the sequel, and I'm very glad that I did because this film makes several allusions to the original and fully expects the viewer to be as versed in it as Boyle is.  But while T2 Trainspotting doesn't stand up to its younger predecessor, it delves into different questions that make it worthy enough of standing on its own.

Again, if you haven't seen the original Trainspotting in some time you may want to brush up on it as this film wastes no time getting back into it with the old gang.  Renton returns to Edinburgh following the death of his mother and for the first time since robbing Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Frankie (Robert Carlyle), and Spud (Ewen Bremner) at the end of the first film.  Renton, from the outside, is doing very well.  He hasn't used heroin in 20 years, has a good job, and has a wife.  The others aren't faring nearly as well; Sick Boy (or Simon as he's referred to mostly in this film) has a cocaine habit and is trying to open a brothel, Spud is still a heroin addict and attempts suicide, and Frankie is currently in prison nearing the end of his long sentence.  When Renton reunites with Sick Boy, their bitter animosity comes full steam, but soon the two are back to being friends like old times again.  Renton confesses that his life isn't so great either in a bit of a convoluted way, and the two are soon hatching a plan to make Sick Boy's half-baked brothel a reality.  Spud also begins to reclaim his purpose in life thanks to talks with Renton and Sick Boy's sort of girlfriend, sort of prostitute Veronica (Anjela Nedyalkova), while Frankie escapes from prison hell-bent on squaring his debt with Renton.  Despite the sort of contrived sense of the characters coming back together, it's fun to see everyone revisiting their characters 20 years later.  

A major theme of the film is centered on nostalgia.  It makes sense; we're watching this film in order to get another hopeful taste of the sensation of watching the original for the first time, just like each of these characters chased after another hit of heroin that felt like experiencing the rush of it the first time.  Boyle is very aware of this and pulls no punches in making several nods to the first film, even going so far as to purposefully repeat shots and scenarios.  At times it feels a bit cheap, as if Boyle knows this film can't possibly live up to the original and instead of attempting to let T2 stand on its own feet elects for "remember when this happened?" moments.  But then again, despite our cries for the sequel to not be a simple retread, we want it to embody that same tone and style that made the original so famous.  And to complicate matters further, T2, despite its many allusions to the original, is actually a much different film from it, likely resulting in many people to dismiss it because it didn't evoke the same response.  In the end, all of this kind of more points to the argument of "well then why make this film in the first place?" than anything else, but Boyle is highly aware of all of this and refuses to shy away from it.

The theme of nostalgia beyond a meta element concerning the two films also is very present amidst the characters, namely Renton and Sick Boy.  The two are older now, and they pine for the careless days of their youth running around Edinburgh and thinking only of scoring heroin.  The world then seemed so free and the possibilities while basking in their youth so endless, while now they find that there is little to smile about and even less to look forward to.  So you must almost forgive Boyle for retreading elements and sequences from the original because ultimately it's what the audience and what the film's core characters want.  All of this even culminates in Renton and Sick Boy , their most desperate plunge into nostalgia yet.  Funny enough, Spud's path to redemption stems from exploring their past and writing these adventures down as he attempts to kick his addiction once and for all through nostalgia.  The heroin use in this film is almost nonexistent, especially in comparison with its constant presence in the original, but it's been replaced with memories, self-reflections, and new opportunities for making a new life that may or may not ever be realized.  

So no, T2 Trainspotting does not possess the wildness of the original.  It doesn't have any of those stunning sequences of Renton in withdrawals or swimming through a toilet ocean.  It doesn't have the freedom or quite the hyper editing and pace.  But Boyle shows that he's still one of the best filmmakers today by injecting the film with a great soundtrack, some excellent use of flashbacks, and directs his cast to great performances while they muse on life and their mistakes without being overly bitter or grim.  Boyle surely knows that the sequel can't top the original, and his characters know that as well.  Their best and most interesting days are behind them, and now they're left to grapple with their remaining years.  The new drug here isn't heroin but pure nostalgia, which in some ways can be even more dangerous for those without a promising future.  This is not a sequel for anyone who isn't a fan of the original, and it's not a sequel for any fan of the original expecting it to be the original.  But for any viewer interested in a sequel that's self-aware and dares to cling to its predecessor while exploring new themes, choose this movie.

7/10