Well, I did it everyone I finally got around to finally watching the sequel to Trainspotting, T2: Trainspotting another 20 years in the making sequel category of films. I never really recommend a whole lot of sequels for a monthly recommendation, but this movie is surprisingly a well-made and more relatable, which is strangely weird because in the first movie, I'd never imagine finding a more f**ked up movie that could rival A Clockwork Orange. But with this movie it's more of a relatable story to the extent of growing old and as well as overcoming your personal demons.
First there was an opportunity, then there was a betrayal. Twenty years later, Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns to the only place that he can ever call home. There waiting for him are old buddies Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Sorrow, loss, joy, vengeance, hatred, love, fear, regret, self-destruction and mortal danger are also all lined up and ready to welcome him.
Sadly the film is not realistic in terms of these addicts not looking like actual junkie's where they're hair is falling off as well as their own teeth falling off as well, though lets be fair the actors would never take the junk and sure you can use make-up but then it would make the characters less relatable so, deep down it would be less interesting. When you make a sequel, twenty years of the predecessor's last release they're at times, where the sequel can be either at least be good or enjoyable and some of them surpassed the expectations and some well, just failed miserably. With Trainspotting 2, it's more exceptional to the film being made and set twenty years after the film’s release, but more importantly was sets the film to where these characters you love from the first film would end up now furthermore would make a tone of sense as towards their attributes in life. Like Begbie being a psycho so, made ton of sense that he would end up in jail. Sick Boy is still doing lame schemes that would never work and Spud is still fighting with addiction. And the main protagonist of the original film Renton lives somewhere else but then has a breakdown in life that would soon take him back to where it all started. Furthermore, it's all great and everything but what really drives the sequel together is both Danny Boyle and John Hodge driving terrific themes about long-term consequences of addiction, the addiction to the past, especially trying to remember the good days and having no will in wanting to move on in the world. The other great themes to the film are also betrayal, revenge and forgiveness, and if you haven't watched the first film, basically ends with Renton betraying two of his three friends and leaving to start a new life and through the course of the movie Renton played by Ewan McGregor confronts his friends both of them resent him and later forgive him while Begbie played by Robert Carlyle is a raging nut case who just wants to kill him with forgiveness being out of the topic. But the most important two themes that make this film exceptional is aging and nostalgia for which that resonates with me in ways you can't imagine, I mean I'm now 39 years old and looking at the world now it's almost unrecognizable to me, like I worked at state basketball in Nebraska and some of the events were taking place at Bob Devaney Sports Center and my first time working, I couldn't recognized the place anymore and out of the many times I've went to that place for state wrestling it's like the memories went past me and I didn't know what to feel since the state has been producing the best Volleyball team under Coach John Cook. For good measure watching this film for the first time really resonated with me to that I can relate to these characters as time just losing touch with them. If I had to pick a character that I can relate to the most of the four friends it would most certainly be Spud played by underappreciated actor, Ewen Bremner who does such a great job playing his character with a man whose literally struggling with the world as well as addiction but feeling guilty as well and having a hard time overcoming the guilt and I love the scenes with him and Ewan, where Ewan is helping him find new things to be addicted to other then heroin and Bremner does a great job at that to where he's the only one out of the four friends that has a heart moreover would never hurt a fly or person. If you've seen the first movie as well as a fan of the original film I'm sure you all have your opinions of Renton as a character but in my opinion he's a guy who's trying to choose life more than having to put up with two of his toxic friends, Begbie and Sick Boy for which if I was in his shoes yeah I would screw them over because those two out what they are as people and you as an audience member would know they would never change, and the beauty of the movie is again is expressing betrayal, revenge and forgiveness at the same time that you see all of these elements working in the best way possible that you continue to feel blessed and appreciated with the film's ending. I don't think gave a whole lot of appreciation to the first Trainspotting film, but hands down is a great film from start to finish and does a fantastic job being unapologetic with the realistic tone of heroin addiction as well as expressing how dangerous these things really hard to T2 exploring the themes of life not being kind to either one of us and each of these films does a great job in exploring their own themes and I believe everyone needs to see these films to be understood, well, the first one you can just give the film a good once over. Yes, you have to watch the first film to get the understanding towards sequel's themes but each of them are great and both Danny Boyle and John Hodge does a great job with these films together, and T2 Trainspotting is a great film of exploring the aging and nostalgia and yet you have to move forward in life and that's what I love so much about the film and now having watched both films together, I feel blessed and appreciated in watching these films despite the first film being out of this world more F'd up than a Clockwork Orange, either way both films are great because you can never make those films to this generation. And though you'll have to purchase these films on Blu-Ray, I promise you they’re worth the purchase, though don't watch these with your own kids.
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