The original Trainspotting was an intoxicating blend of Scottish culture, frenetic pacing and a morbid sense of humor that could not be ignored. It was about people who weren’t good to anyone else but themselves because the artificiality of their world wouldn’t let them feel good about life even if they tried. T2: Trainspotting is the same characters acting their charming asshole ways through what happens whenever an important element is added to the mixture of the movie: time. It’s been 20 years and now Renton (Ewan MCgregor) has returned to Edinburgh to seek forgiveness from his friends (i.e. all of your favorites from the original) whom he stole £16,000 from them years earlier. Time as a storytelling device is very interesting. It allows us to better know our characters as they progress and becomes something else. Time changes people. This is a vital part of why it can affect us as audience members so deeply. It allows for drama in contrast and that’s where T2 might actually misstep, creating a film that’s fun like the first one, but hardly has transcendent as it really should be. The problem comes in that there doesn’t seem to be much of a change to all of the characters, not that this is as They just seem like less energetic and more mature versions of their original selves, which on one hand makes them more realistic as 40 and almost 50 year olds, but also seem to rob them of the sharp personality of the first one. It does often seem like this is all intentional, as all of these half joking satirists of the fakeness of their existence slowly start to realize, to their great disappointment, that they might just be right, but it also comes off a little flat. The fact that not all of the main protagonists don’t relate to the main storyline gives it less weight than it already has, which is to say it doesn’t have much, and this takes a chunk out of an otherwise fine film. For the record, T2: Trainspotting is certainly not a bad movie. It’s fast and funny (though less so than the first one), and when it actually does consider it’s group of misfits place in the world, it gets really emotional, with director Danny Boyle and his screenwriter John Hodge employing the use of children to represent the characters at their most vulnerable. There’s an almost desperate consideration of the role of a man who can only live in violence, that turns out to be the movie’s highlight scene, with Begbie (Robert Carlyle), of all of them, truly attempting to find a meaning to his existence. Scenes like this one, the tear-inducing return of “Choose Life,” and a quick detour into another corner of people abandoned by a society that didn’t end up the way they wish all juice up this otherwise somewhat light sequel. Time should do more to this movie than it actually does. After 20 years, all of these assholes are the same assholes that they were before with maybe a little bit of the wind taken from their sails, leaving the film chiefly stranded in the realm of only good rather than the originals perfect. As a film, it’s fun enough to be good but as a sequel to such a classic it disappoints. T2: Trainspotting gets a 7 out of 10. Review by Stephen Tronicek
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |