Review: T2 Trainspotting

The College View: Choose regret, denial and rekindling old friendships.

"The closing scene sees Renton dancing in his boyhood bedroom to “Lust for Life” in an attempt to immortalise the boy who caused all the raucous and you can’t help but want to watch him not choose life all over again." Above: British director Danny Boyle posing during the presentation of his latest film "T2 Trainspotting" in Madrid. Photograph: Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images
"The closing scene sees Renton dancing in his boyhood bedroom to “Lust for Life” in an attempt to immortalise the boy who caused all the raucous and you can’t help but want to watch him not choose life all over again." Above: British director Danny Boyle posing during the presentation of his latest film "T2 Trainspotting" in Madrid. Photograph: Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images

Twenty years later, Mark Renton (Ewan Mcgregor) returns to Edinburgh following the death of his mother; Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle) and Spud (Ewen Bremner) have not forgotten his betrayal.

A trip to his hometown kicks Renton’s mid-life crisis into full gear as he is confronted by the skeletons in his closet head on. T2 Trainspotting, is enjoyable, nostalgic and humorous—an excellent effort by Danny Boyle to reimagine the boys, now ‘men’ long past their period of excusable recklessness. It does not, however, possess the punchy energy of its generation defining predecessor.

The story begins on a treadmill in Amsterdam reflecting the modern aesthetic of the film. T1 closed on Renton’s declaration to choose life and it would appear he has done just that. But a twenty year stint in software development and one wife later, it hasn’t exactly worked out.

A recent divorce has made Renton question his life choices and much to the delight of Simon (Sick Boy), he has found himself at a standstill as to what exactly he should be doing.

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An opportunity presents itself in the form of a leisure club, but will it be followed by betrayal? This is a recurring theme and line in the film that reconnects the original to the current storyline as Renton deals with the aftermath of ripping off his friends all those years ago.

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