T2 Trainspotting - Lust for midlife crisis

There were few people more excited for a Trainspotting sequel than me.  I was a mere eighteen-year-old film studies student when Renton first sprinted down the high street and was bundles over by security guards.  It was no exaggeration to say that the film was part of my youth.  But no sequel ever came.  Rumours about spats between Ewan McGreggor and director Danny Boyle filled the internet and, despite a novel ‘P*rno’ having been written, it never materialised onto the big screen.  Until now.  It was excited in a way that was partly tinged with nerves – after all, how many sequels really even come close to the original?  I was so pleased to see that this one does.

Trainspotting 2 (or ‘T2’ as it’s also called) is a true sequel.  However, I can see that some people may not approve.  It’s the same… and it’s not.  It follows the exploits of the main characters we saw the first time round, only (like me!) they’re older, slower and not necessarily wiser.  I’ve thought long and hard about how best to sum up Trainspotting 2 and I can only conclude that the first, starring youngsters as it did, was – as with all the youth – fast-paced, manic and hyper.  Whereas, like us middle-aged Volvo drivers, Trainspotting 2 is a slower, more thoughtful affair, now not dealing with mad youthful exploits and, instead, concentrating on mid-life crisis and the regrets that come with looking back at your life.

Trainspotting 2 is not Trainspotting.  If you’re expecting a re-run then you will definitely leave the cinema disappointed.  What you have here is a ‘what happened next’ story.  If you imagine the first Trainspotting as something like a ‘war movie’ i.e. it was an action-packed event with explosions everywhere.  Then, if you were to make a film about the stars of this fictional war movie twenty years later, we wouldn’t see the war/battles again.  Instead, we’d see what happened to the soldiers when they returned home, left the army and their life as civilians.  This is what you have here.

Whether you love or loathe the sequel will depend on your expectations.  I was ready for a new film and this is what I got.  However, it also plays homage to its own source material and there are few sequels that have so many nods back to the original.  Don’t expect the same again, just expect awesome performances and slick direction from the surviving cast members.  If I had to make one criticism, it would be about Ewan Bremner who played ‘Spud’ – he does come across as a little cartoonish.  However, he’s still as endearing as ever and, despite his character’s failings, he does serve a purpose and the story wouldn’t be the same without him.

I haven’t said much about what happens.  That’s because you shouldn’t need to know how it all plays out to enjoy spending one last outing with these anti-heroes.  This is the way sequels should be made.  T2 is excellent (just like its Terminator sequel).

10/10 The Monty Python Knights of Camelot are currently looking for this