After 21 years, and countless interviewers asking him to make a sequel, Danny Boyle and his merry band of Skag Boys are back, in the awkwardly named T2 Trainspotting.
So, is it any good?
There was a part of me that really didn’t want to like this film. Trainspotting was such an iconic, lightning in a bottle moment in British cinema, and is still talked about and referenced to this day. But thankfully this new instalment never tries to top whats comes before, but rather it tries to do something quite different from what we usually see in standard movie sequels; if anything it enhances the first film rather than tarnishing its memory.
We pick up the story with Renton (Ewan McGregor) returning to Edinburgh for the first time since the climactic events of the first film, in which he made off with a bag full of drug money, leaving his friends high and dry in the hope of forging a new life for himself in Amsterdam. As Renton slowly reconnects with the figures from his past (including the recovering drug addict Spud Murphy (Ewen Bremner, shyster Sickboy (Jonny Lee Miller), and all round psychopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle); the true reasons for his return slowly boil to the surface, and its not long before the gang are back together concocting new schemes and falling back into old habits.
“It feels like the perfect companion piece to the original…leaving you wanting just one more hit”
The genius of Boyle and returning screenwriter John Hodge’s approach is that they embrace the nostalgia head on, as the characters reminisce about the events of the first film in the same way the audience does, as they try to come to terms with the poor decisions they’ve made in the past and the people they’ve become as a result. There’s strong themes of masculinity and fatherhood that run throughout the film; as we see the four leads as children and teenagers through flashback, which is juxtaposed with them as middle aged adults with children of their own.
The icing on the cake is the kickass soundtrack, which features a great mix of obscure snippets, retro favourites and modern indie tracks, as well as a few familiar tunes from the first film which have been remixed to great effect.
T2 Trainspotting is energetic, funny, surprising, and sometimes quite emotional. It feels like the perfect companion piece to the original, not only reminding you why you love these characters in the first place, but leaving you wanting just one more hit.
T2 Trainspotting is in Aussie cinemas now