T2 Trainspotting
Director: Danny Boyle
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller
Duration: 117 mins
Class: 18
KRS Releasing Ltd
In 1996, Trainspotting, based on Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name, was released to international acclaim from critics and moviegoers, its unflinching depiction of the effects of heroin use among a group of friends in Edinburgh’s deprived neighbourhoods striking a nerve, and the film went on to become one of the most celebrated British films of all time.
Twenty years later, along comes a sequel reintroducing us to Renton (Ewan McGregor) who, when we last left him, walked off with the money he and the gang made off a drug deal; Simon ‘Sick Boy’ (Jonny Lee Miller), who has since harboured feelings of anger and betrayal towards Renton for abandoning him; Spud (Ewen Bremner), who only used the money Renton left him to continue to feed his drug habit; and, of course, Begbie (Robert Carlyle), whose violent temper has not improved in the time he has been in prison as he plots revenge on Renton, who has returned to Edinburgh for the first time since absconding with the cash.
A large portion of the original film’s appeal was the characters’ unapologetic hedonism laced with a dollop with heart. Although it was accused in some quarters of glorifying drug use, the hardships it wreaks were never glossed over.
McGregor and company brought to life an ensemble of people who were raw and authentic; characters we could easily engage with as they struggled to find ways to get out the of the vicious circle of drugs and poverty that was so much a part of their world, a world that Boyle and his team created with remarkable energy, black humour and authenticity.
The energy, vibrancy and wit that characterised the original are lacking here
So it is somewhat of a disappointment to find that complexity missing from both the film and its protagonists 20 years later. Renton is a shadow of his former self, in a relationship that has gone nowhere and in an equally dead-end job; situations which have brought him back home for the first time since he split with the money.
Simon is making an illicit living out of prostitution and blackmail; Begbie has been in jail; and poor sad-sack Spud is living a life of misery, having been completely unable to kick the heroin habit.
“Nostalgia, that’s why you’re here. You’re a tourist in your own youth,” says Simon to Renton at one point… and that kind of sums up the film’s raison d’être.
A reason to go back and revisit these characters; that in and of itself is not a bad idea. Yet the screenplay by John Hodge, based on both Trainspotting and Welsh’s follow-up Porno, barely scratches the surface of the changes they have gone through in the transition from boyhood to manhood.
At moments, it does hint at deeper issues – Sick Boy venting his feelings at Renton, or Begbie’s thwarted attempts to reconnect with his son, who is nothing like him.
Yet there is a sense of the film hurriedly getting these more emotional moments out of the way before settling into a conventional crime caper as Renton and Sick Boy team up to try and finance the latter’s latest business venture while vying for the affections of tart-with-a-brain-and-a-heart Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova). Meanwhile Begbie, having broken out of prison, seeks revenge on them all.
It is, ironically, Spud, who has the most impact; kudos to Bremner for imbuing him with genuine pathos, as he looks back on his drug-addicted life and the loss of his estranged wife and grown son, and finds some solace by chronicling his and the gang’s misadventures. It is a genuine portrayal of a life wasted and one beset with regret. Had that sort of attention been granted to the remaining characters the film could have been that much stronger.
It does have several gratifying moments, if none of the shock value Boyle originally served up. Spud’s botched suicide attempt comes close; Begbie’s prison break is audacious; Renton and Sick Boy’s fleecing of patrons at a club – and forced to sing a song to make their getaway – is entertaining.
And, yes, Renton’s legendary ‘choose life’ rant does get a 2017 update, albeit a predictable one. “Choose life; choose Facebook, Twitter, Instagram” – it does land a few strong blows.
Boyle does bring some visual flourishes, strong musical choices and brief flashbacks to the mix, yet ironically these only serve to remind us of the energy, vibrancy and wit that characterised the original, and are lacking here.