Review: T2: Trainspotting

T2: Trainspotting

Directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Anjela Nedyalkova, Kelly MacDonald, James Cosmo, Shirley Henderson

Here’s my shameful admission, one that will undoubtedly get my “movie-nerd license” revoked; I don’t think Trainspotting is that great of a movie. It’s a perfectly good one; it’s fast paced, imaginatively directed, full of clever, memorable dialogue and characters, has a killer soundtrack, and manages to show both the horrors that long-term drug addiction can manifest while also at times being subversively funny, but it usually fades from my memory not long after watching it, and I always got the impression its fixture as a classic of independent cinema was largely thanks to the aggressive marketing campaign Miramax splurged on back in the day, and its eye-catching poster that adorned most film geek’s bedrooms back in the 90s, right next to Pulp Fiction and Fight Club. Nonetheless, the film’s legacy is solidified, and we have it to thank for the careers of both fascinating filmmaker Danny Boyle, and highly underrated actor Ewan McGregor, who’ve both returned along with the rest of the original cast for this 21 years later sequel, which borrows some elements that were unused from the original Trainspotting novel, as well as some elements from author Irvine Welsh’s follow up novel Porno, but in whole is largely an original story.

In case you’ve forgotten, Trainspotting was a series of vignettes about a group heroin addicted petty criminals living in Edinburgh sometime in the mid 90s (While the movie doesn’t give us an exact timeframe and Welsh’s book itself was set in the late 80s, Part 2 makes it very clear that it is set in present day and that it has been 20 years since the events of the first film, so there you go). The film largely centers on Mark Renton (McGregor), an amoral addict filled with apathy and disdain for everyone in his life, and zero aspirations besides shooting up and stealing things so he can afford shooting up later. In the film’s final act, Renton takes part in a drug deal with his three friends, Spud (Ewen Bremner), a childlike, relentlessly unlucky dimwit, Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a smooth-talking con artist, and Begbie (Robert Carlyle) an unhinged, violent sociopath. Renton steals the 16,000 pounds for himself, leaving only Spud his share of 4000, and abandons his friends. Now, 20 years later, Renton, having been living in Amsterdam all this time, is compelled by a mid-life crisis brought on by a disappointing life and a minor heart attack, to travel back home and make amends with the friends he left behind. He finds Spud unemployed, suicidal, separated from his longtime girlfriend Gail (Shirley Henderson) and their teenage son, and still addicted to heroin. Sick Boy, now going by his real name Simon, is making a living blackmailing important public figures alongside his prostitute/ sort-of-girlfriend Veronkia (Anjela Nedyalkova). No one is terribly happy to see him, but Simon, needing the money and itching for some non-specific revenge, convinces Renton to become his business partner in turning his aunt’s failing pub into a sauna style brothel house, with Veronkia as the madam. Renton agrees, essentially having a lack of anything better to do, but also largely because of an instant attraction to Veronika, and the two hire Spud to oversee the renovations in an effort to keep him clean and give his life some purpose. Begbie, meanwhile, has just escaped from prison and is as unhinged and insane as ever, and while he tries to reconnect with his terrified wife and son, rumours of Renton’s reemergence turn all of Begbie’s thoughts to murder.

T2 hits all the highlights you’d assume a sequel to Trainspotting would hit, and as a result, ends up feeling like one massive victory lap for a filmmaking team that is still really proud of the film that made them all famous. All the callbacks are present, Mark get’s hit by a car and then laughs about it, there are belated eulogies for Tommy and Baby Dawn, there’s a brief check in with Diane (Kelly MacDonald) to see how she’s doing, someone plays Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”, there’s a disgusting toilet, and yes, Renton and Sick Boy eventually relapse and shoot up some heroin, which I have to admit does end up feeling slightly icky, when one of the most dangerous drug’s on the planet carries the same symbolic weight as say, the Terminator saying “I’ll be back”. Not all of the callbacks work terribly well, Renton has another big “Choose Life” monologue that is set up to take the piss out of the original one, but ends up coming off as Welsh (or possibly Screenwriter John Hodge) crankily ranting about all the newfangled things about modern society that piss them off like Facebook or Instagram. When the film isn’t self-congratulating itself over what a great film Trainspotting was, which honestly is about 75% of the movie, there is a halfway decent little character study hidden here, albeit one where it is absolutely necessary you know something about these characters, otherwise there’s really no reason to care about what happens here. The first Trainspotting carried sort of a nihilistic, nothing really matters attitude about itself, and the sequel really only adds the caveat of “Nothing matters, also now I’m old”. The characters are still as lost as ever, drifting back into petty crime and drug abuse as a way to stave off the crushing disappointment of life, with the only brief respite being the stolen moments of joy shared being in each others company, a complicated feeling seeing as how 20 years later, these four men still can’t quite decide whether or not they even like each other that much.

The Renton of the original film was a sociopathic little shithead, the sort of conniving misanthrope who, in an utterly casual way, set into motion the events that resulted in his best friend Tommy (played in flashbacks by Kevin McKidd) to be dumped by his girlfriend, become a junkie, contract HIV and die. He was a bastard, but he was a fascinating character to watch, which is all the more sad when its revealed how utterly ordinary he’s become. McGregor is easily the least interesting thing about this follow up; he’s not terribly engaging or sympathetic and mostly stands on the fringes of the story, while the results of his earlier actions happen around him. It’s a very bland performance from a very interesting actor, and it’s a shame. A large part of the narrative here is given to Renton and Simon’s friendship, which was nice as Sick Boy was always the character who never stood out that much in the first film. A lot is spoken about how close these two were and how Renton’s betrayal utterly devastated Sick Boy, which may be more prevalent in the novel, as the two never seemed that tight to me. Also absent in the first film which apparently was knowledge I was supposed to know, is the existence of Begbie’s wife and son, who show up here despite never being mentioned before. The stuff with Begbie trying to rope his kid into his life of crime is pretty predictable, and it plays out exactly how you assume it would, but what makes it all work once again is Carlyle, who is as explosive and watchable as ever. Begbie is an utter psychopath, but there is just the very whiff of a soul buried deep beneath him, and Carlyle is tremendous playing this raging lunatic of a man who finds himself culpable of the same ticking clock that all his former mates are currently being threatened by.

Of the four characters, the nicest one to revisit is Bremner’s Spud, who gets a sweet redemption story that is made all the more compelling by the fact that he’s really the only character who earns any sort of sympathy and as a result, is at the greatest risk of something terrible happening to him. Spud’s plotline is also the most strangely meta of the main cast, as it’s revealed the lifetime loser and eternal screw-up actually has a hidden talent; mainly, being Irvine Welsh. Yes, while bonding with Veronkia over renovating the pub, it’s revealed that Spud is a natural born storyteller, and she convinces him to write down all of the wild, drug-fuelled adventures that have befallen him and his circle of friends over the years; stories that take the form of…literally the text from Trainspotting the novel. It’s a very self-congratulatory joke, but again, so is the entire movie. For as unnecessary as T2 ends up being, there’s actually some very funny moments; a scam that Renton and Simon pull on a group of Glasgow Unionists builds up to a really satisfying pay off, and a scene where McGregor and Carlyle are anonymously talking to each other in adjoining bathroom stalls turns uproariously funny as the two men are overcome with respective fear and anger while they slowly realize who the other one is. Boyle also gives us plenty of his cinematic, visual flourishes, fancy cinematic tricks, and some balls out awesome action scenes, such as a no-punches pulled bar brawl between McGregor and Miller, and a tension filled escape from a vengeful Begbie that sees Renton leap on top of a speeding car.

T2 really doesn’t need to exist, but as far as decade’s later sequels go, it’s possibly one of the best. If you like these characters and want to waste a coupe hours seeing where they are now, you’ll be suitably entertained, but while I may end up re-watching Trainspotting again in a few years to remind myself why everyone seems to love it so much, I can almost guarantee I’ll never watch this again.

Final Grade= B-