Review: T2 Trainspotting
It's been 21 years since Renton chose life (and stole his mates' money) at the end of Danny Boyle's generation-defining Trainspotting, and the boys have somehow managed to live long enough to become middle-aged men unsuccessfully dealing with women, children, addiction, and, most of all, each other.
A two-decade-long stint in prison hasn't mellowed out ticking time bomb Begbie (Robert Carlyle) in the least. If anything, he's even more terrifying, positively throbbing with revenge as he stages a stabbing injury in order to get himself to a hospital from which he can escape back into the real world. That's bad news for Renton (Ewan McGregor), who has decided to return to his old stomping grounds and make amends with the mates he betrayed all those years ago. Time has been good to Renton - he's been living in Amsterdam with his Dutch wife and two kids and holding down a stable but boring job as some sort of asset manager - which annoys former best friend Simon aka Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), who relishes any misfortune that befalls Renton.
Renton's re-appearance also frustrates Spud (Ewen Bremmer), still hopelessly hooked on heroin and whose suicide attempt Renton interrupts early on in the film. Like Simon, Spud blames the disappointments of his life on Renton's betrayal. Yet the three can't quit each other. This is especially true of Renton and Simon - their mercurial dynamic veers from genuine affection to bitterness often within seconds - they've known each other for so long that they're practically in each other's DNA. Recapturing the past is one of the film's themes, but sometimes the attempt to do so can be to your own detriment. "You're a tourist in your own youth," Renton is told and that trip to memory lane is part of what buoys this often entertaining but melancholic sequel.
Boyle's callbacks to the earlier film more often than not depict the fact that as you grow older, you often become a lesser version of yourself. It's there in the opening moments which contrasts the older Renton struggling to run on a treadmill to his younger self dashing through the streets. Yet Boyle is also savvy enough not to be swayed by nostalgia. As Renton and Simon remind each other, their youth wasn't brimming with innocence - people died because they were so self-involved in their addictions.
It's a thrill to see the quartet reunited. McGregor, Miller, Carlyle, and Bremmer seem to be having a grand old time re-inhabiting the roles that made them famous. However, it would be remiss to say that T2 Trainspotting is a wholly satisfying experience. There's not much of a plot, the returning female characters are woefully underserved, and the social commentary is less barbed than the first. The soundtrack is as well-curated as ever and Boyle's characteristic stylistic flourishes feel more natural here than in his post-Trainspotting efforts.
T2 Trainspotting
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Written by: John Hodge; based on the novel Porno by Irvine Welsh
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremmer, Anjela Nedyalkova, Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson, Kyle Fitzpatrick
