Trainspotting first hit cinema screens back in 1996. I was
11. Back then my cinema trips were infrequent and in that year I’d have been popcorn
munching during Independence Day and Matilda… Drug culture and a soundtrack encompassing
Britpop and dance music were a bit too much for me. I’m fairly certain I didn’t
see it until I was 14 or 15 when it would have eventually made its way to BBC 2
or C4. At that age I was ready for it. I fell in love with what would have been
an outdated soundtrack and I was mesmerised by the visual flair and tricks of
Danny Boyle at his energetic best. But mainly, I fell in love with those
characters. They were not good people and did not do nice things, but they were
memorable. I’ve watched that film multiple times and even now I know so much of
it of by heart.
If my nostalgia trip for the first film does nothing for you
then chances are you’ll not like T2. Or you don’t like my writing, but we’ll
pretend it’s the former for now. Half of T2 is made up of revisiting the past,
of reminding us of that soundtrack and of those images. The director finds new
scenarios to repeat old shots and the likes of Perfect Day are given just enough
time to drag us by the ears back in to this world. In a way it’s a fault too
and I can appreciate the opinion that it’s not as original or punchy as the first.
Being set 20 years after the first means this film was never
going to replicate that pace and dynamism. These characters are a lot older and
with that comes different motivations. It’s a film about men hitting a certain
age and realising how they’ve screwed it all up. Some ponder death, how it’s
approaching or as a way out of the mess they’ve created. Others just look back
and want vengeance for Renton taking that money in the first film. There’s no
way back for any of them and for most of the film they just repeat the same failings
of the past but this time with the mind-set that this is it, that it’s too late
to change and they’re all fucked anyway. There’s a new take on Choose Life from
the original and it sums up how technology and habits have changed but really
we’re all making the same failings mentioned during the original.
Obviously there’s more to it than that or you wouldn’t have much
of a film. If you’re after a good character ark then this time Spud is your
point of interest. Avoiding spoilers I’ll just say that 20 years on he’s in the
worst place and the film follows his attempts to get out of that. You will feel
for him, especially compared to the relentless prick-ishness of his cohorts. The
performance of Ewen Bremner is the stand out of the film. 
His first scene with Renton/Mark is one of the best,
delivering Boyles visual magic with a touch of gross cringe. The rest of the film
is littered with slo-mo, flashbacks and creations of these characters
imaginations. It’s never dull but then it’s no longer unique either. Will you
remember any scene of this film the way you remember the originals toilet, baby
and taxi ride scenes? No. Definitely not. That doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy the
film for what it is.
As Simon/Sickboy states “Nostalgia. That’s why you’re here.
You’re a tourist in your own youth.” Maybe it’s difficult to get as excited now
as we did when we were younger. I’ve a better memory of Trainspotting, Pulp
Fiction and Leon than I do of most films I saw last year. So if you’re
comfortable with how old you are and fancy that trip back then this is the film
for you. It certainly was for me.
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