T2: Trainspotting

It was pleasurably nostalgic to see these characters again. They are so well written and so convincingly brought to life by the amazing cast that they almost feel a part of you.

I awaited the release of T2 with immense anticipation and desperately wanted to see this film. But, despite a significant amount of bias on my part, my honest take was that the premise felt a little forced and contrived.

It was always going to lack the grit, energy, authenticity, depth of meaning and crackerjack dialogue of the original. Part of me feels they should have left the 1996 masterpiece to sit singularly, where it belongs, as the greatest British film of all time.

But then again I can't fault them for attempting to resurrect the story, as Irvine Welsh did. The acting performances aren't as raw, heartfelt or believable as the first and that youthful energy is certainly missing. But it's the screenplay that disappoints in my opinion - it's a little loose, vague and disconnected. I'd even go as far as to describe it as ordinary and unremarkable.

In all fairness, I think these issues were pretty much unavoidable. Following Trainspotting was an impossible task. The film suffers from the universal truth that life becomes more humdrum the older you get, meaning that creating a dynamic storyline was inevitably more challenging.

Even if the original film isn't as dear to you as it is to me, if you watched them back to back it would be pretty obvious that T2 is a failure, sadly.

"Porno" wasn't a great Irvine Welsh book, but at least it introduced new characters and updated us on the whereabouts of the original Trainspotting crew. The "prequel" Skag Boys was to my mind much much better.

The problem is, Porno couldn't really be filmed, as it concentrates on the filming of pornography. So instead, some elements (but not many) of it have been lifted to make T2, but most of T2 is "original". It's around 5% Porno if that.

However, I'd estimate that maybe 10 minutes in total of T2 is direct samples of the first film. Sure, have a bit of it in there, but we all know that T2 is a sequel of a film famous enough to have stuck in our memories. And I felt that constant referring back was after a while unnecessary, and intrusive.

There wasn't a single scene in "T2" that could hold up to anything in the original. Not one.

Look, I'm glad I saw it, but it's not something I'd really watch again more than once. Some films are classics because they are of their time: Trainspotting; Pulp Fiction; the Big Lebowski; Withnail and I. Trying to do a sequel for any of them is going to be a pointless exercise, you could never do one that holds a candle to the original.

What Boyle and co have tried to do in "T2" could have been much worse; but it couldn't have been much better either. The past is the past, and we should leave it there.

The return of Trainspotting to the screen such a weird bit of timing. The cast are almost all moved on to very successful careers in cinema and television, with a range of big and personal projects between them. Likewise the film sits in a period in the mid-90's where cinema seemed so vibrant with ideas and new directors (most of whom are now the new establishment); so returning to a place with that establishment didn't think it would work - particularly seeing so many big name actors trying to convince as broken shells. It felt like it would be an exercise in looking back, rather than being a new film in and of itself.

I thought this would be a negative, but actually this is what the film does, but it is a strength not a weakness. The film reconnects with the characters, who are all in their different places, some having moved more than others. Regardless though, they are all looking back. Some of them look back with fondness when their violence was at its peak, others feel regret for what little they have to show for life - some putting that on themselves, others putting it into blame on others for closing off options. This sense of hitting a certain age and looking back is universal I think, and it works well here. The base plot is not as good, but this element of nostalgia (fond and regretful) mixes across the film well and carries it through.

It also allows the film to do what it does in terms of style. It references the original film a lot, but thanks to this theme, it doesn't feel like it is trying to replicate it or ride on its coattails, but rather it is a touchpoint for the characters, the cast, the crew, and the viewer. Doing this strengthens that theme. Of course, it also repeats the energy of the original film, with the director/cinematographer very much pushing the style and design. This doesn't work quite as well when sometimes there is not quite the substance to carry it off.

How it would work for younger viewers, or those who have never seen the first film, I don't know. But for me it had the style and energy it needed to keep it all moving, but what worked most was that it took that feeling of a backwards looking film, and made that a strength that ran through the 4th wall from the characters out to the production and to the viewer. It is not a match for the original film but it works very well as a companion piece.

20 years after betraying his friends and running off with (almost) all the money from a scam, Mark Renton is back in Edinburgh. It is his first time back since the events that split him, Spud and Simon apart. He looks up Spud and Simon but their lives are hardly much better than when he last saw them. Spud, after getting his life together, has seen it all unravel, to the point that he is suicidal. Simon is running his father's loss-making pub, in between bouts of blackmail. Meanwhile, the fourth person in their caper of 20 years' ago, the psychotically intense Begbie, is in jail. He has no intention of staying incarcerated and revenge is foremost on his mind...

The original Trainspotting was brilliant. Funny, gritty and harrowing it dealt with the issue of drug addiction in a suffocatingly intense yet humorous way. It wasn't just about drug addiction but friendship and, ultimately, about a crime caper and betrayal.

Directed by Danny Boyle, who directed Trainspotting 1, Trainspotting 2 doesn't have the grimness of the first movie, as the drug addiction side is hardly a factor. For me, that is what made Trainspotting 1 a masterpiece, the way it covered drug addiction in a realistic yet humorous manner. T2 is more about friendship and the after-effects of T1's betrayal, resulting it being more of an action-revenge sort of movie.

Plot is good, though there are some contrivances and inconsistencies. Quite emotional at times too, as we see some loops from T1 closed, friends reunited and 40-somethings taking stock of their lives.

Humour-wise, T2 is great, and as good as, if not better than, T1. Some very funny scenes and dialogue.

Not essential that you've watched T1 to follow and enjoy T2, as there are enough flashbacks and other clues to fill you in on what happened in T1. However, watching T1 before T2 certainly would help the experience. There are plenty of side-references and subtle nods to T1 and these enhance the enjoyment of T2.

Overall, a great movie, though not in the same league as Trainspotting 1. Very funny at times, with a good plot and some interesting themes.

An immensely challenging sequel to produce; Danny Boyle's reprisal was never going to satisfy old fans and newcomers alike.

After twenty years, there would be obvious ambiguity in how to go about writing and directing this cult-classics' sequel. 2017 is brimming with sequels of both original movies and installments to well-established series; thus this may be a recurring issue in the near future. T2 Trainspotting is very clearly a movie made for the fans of the original, for people who loved the first film but haven't watched it in years, and have fond memories of it. This film preys upon the fact that some people will be so wound up in their own nostalgia that they won't give this film the independence from the original it needed.

T2 struggles to declare itself a story of its own; literal scenes from the original Trainspotting are shown to portray a reflection on the past repeating itself; but all that this shows is an unwillingness to write a completely original plot. It is likely Danny Boyle did this to appease fans, as going in a completely different direction would then annoy those who are devoted to the first film.

The story has a great premise; the Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns to Scotland and meets with the lovable Spud (Ewen Bremner) and best-pal Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) once again - much to their initial disgust. Not long after, the return of Begbie (Robert Carlyle) fills the plot with more drama than a soap opera. The events that take place are mostly for comedic purpose, under the premise that the audience already know the characters (fair to assume, but not taking into account standalone viewers). A specific scene in which Simon and Mark are forced to perform a song in a loyalist pub had me laughing out loud in the cinema; so often the attempts at making the film light- hearted were received with a good response.

That being said, one of the things about the original is that it wasn't light hearted in the slightest. The characters were the only thing lovable about the film, not what happened to them necessarily, whereas T2 swaps this around - the environments were far more ostentatious in this film, bright neon lighting and fewer disgusting and dull backdrops make for a more optimistic view in this film - quite the opposite of what the original was about. It seems in trying to appease the fans of the original and placing the same characters in a repetitive-yet more flamboyant setting has managed to stray from the roots of what made Trainspotting great.

T2 could have been set anywhere provided the main characters still acted in the way that they do, and that's a shame - every piece of Trainspotting was necessary to put together the plot that was made.

Despite all of this - T2 is a good film. It's not a great film, but it certainly isn't awful either. Its' greatest failing is that it can't decide whether to create an entirely new story - which would abandon the roots of the original - or to re-hash Trainspotting - which would be total cowardice. The film does the worst of both worlds, in that it doesn't have a great deal of original thought but it also doesn't capture what the first film did.

On its own merits, T2 is a funny film; and it is enjoyable to watch. I didn't leave the theatre as disappointed as I would have anticipated, and the film didn't fail to put a smile on my face during. Despite the 20 year gap, the actors clearly haven't lost track of their alter-ego's nature - the performances were great and the chemistry that the actors had was immense, with a gleaming nod to Robert Carlyle.

I can still say I recommend T2, its not like the original in terms of quality or theme, but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself. I can make an odd comparison to another sequel, Aliens, in that both T2 and Aliens are very enjoyable, but both films also spoil the point of their predecessor in a sense.