Making a sequel to the unique and very original Trainspotting was never going to be an easy task. Danny Boyle and the team did a great job with it for the most part though, terrible name (T2) aside of course. It "felt" like Trainspotting and they had many of the old characters back. How they inserted quick shots/scenes from the original was poignant and well done. Overall, I'm glad they made the movie and it will be a welcome addition to my Blu-Ray collection. However, I did have some issues with the final product...
Before I begin, I'd like to remind you I gave this a 8 out of 10...it is also a unique movie like the original and I certainly enjoyed watching it. Though I must say, I do wish the movie had a different story-line and had left out a few implausible scenes/situations. Maybe this stuff is in the book Porno and they wanted to follow that, I'm not sure. But I can't help but be disappointed by the direction to movie took in a lot of ways, despite giving it a 8. (Spoilers ahead). For instance, they had Begbie escape from prison at the beginning...after losing out on his parole. Why not just parole him and send him on his way into the public? Instead, they go through a ridiculous scenario in which Begbie escapes a crowded hospital by doing the old and tired "knocking someone out in the hallway and switching clothes with him off-screen" routine...something that I'm sure has never actually worked in human history beyond movies and TV. On top of all this, the cops never even check the house where his wife and kid live, as Begbie easily shacks up there. Also, the cop who was watching him while in his hospital bed must take the longest #2's his side of the Pacific Ocean! Begbie talks the cop into leaving him un-handcuffed while the cop goes to take a duke...then apparently before the hospital is put into lock-down by cop who wouldn't have been gone longer than 15 minutes, Begbie un-tethers himself to all the wires he's hooked up to, he roams the halls looking for a spot that is empty so he can knock someone out, knocks that person out, removes and changes clothes with his limp body (would be a very time-consuming task, especially while one person is limp and the other is injured), then casually walks out...all before the cop is done with an on-duty #2?! Come on. Then later Begbie (in an implausible way) meets Renton - who's a runner in his off-time now - and a foot-chase begins. The much older-looking Begbie, who's just coming off a 20-year stint in the clink while the younger Renton has been training this whole time, somehow keeps up with Renton during the long chase. He then stabs Renton in the arm. This arm gets no attention the rest of the way, despite what looked to be a pretty serious injury...he's fine the next scene. All of this should have been re-written. Which leads me to Spud. Spud, if you haven't seen the movie, is no longer the happy-go-lucky Spud...he's suicidal and becomes, get this, an author! Whatttt?! Again, a re-write here would have been preferred. And, also, now Sick Boy has a coke problem but doesn't do heroin anymore. Trainspotting was kind of about, you know, heroin! 3 of the 4 barely even mention it anymore...they do more coke and drinking than anything...and by the end, none of the 4 are hooked in any sort of way. Spud seemed to drop his 25+ year habit after a long jog and a nice talk. Why did the filmmakers decide on the unnecessary and unlikely change of heart towards the characters and heroin? This is Trainspotting!
What should have been done instead? I think Renton should have came back because he ran into a illegal money-making situation like his mates did with Mikey Forrester 20 years earlier. Maybe a plan to rob a warehouse where he somehow found out heroin was being stored there. He would decide to come back to town and meet up with the three old mates and relieve his guilt, offering them a deal where they make up the 4000 pounds plus a heck of a lot more in exchange for their forgiveness. This would have been a great start to a fun sort of story (fun like Trainspotting was fun to watch). And you could have ended it a million different exciting ways. Instead there is a lot of depression and regret and guilt by the characters and it weighed down the fun factor in my opinion.
Overall, I was just so glad to see the old characters back. And despite the flaws, it's an interesting movie to watch, an alternate sort of take to Trainspotting. It's a really good movie that really could have been a great one with a little better script.
JD
Before I begin, I'd like to remind you I gave this a 8 out of 10...it is also a unique movie like the original and I certainly enjoyed watching it. Though I must say, I do wish the movie had a different story-line and had left out a few implausible scenes/situations. Maybe this stuff is in the book Porno and they wanted to follow that, I'm not sure. But I can't help but be disappointed by the direction to movie took in a lot of ways, despite giving it a 8. (Spoilers ahead). For instance, they had Begbie escape from prison at the beginning...after losing out on his parole. Why not just parole him and send him on his way into the public? Instead, they go through a ridiculous scenario in which Begbie escapes a crowded hospital by doing the old and tired "knocking someone out in the hallway and switching clothes with him off-screen" routine...something that I'm sure has never actually worked in human history beyond movies and TV. On top of all this, the cops never even check the house where his wife and kid live, as Begbie easily shacks up there. Also, the cop who was watching him while in his hospital bed must take the longest #2's his side of the Pacific Ocean! Begbie talks the cop into leaving him un-handcuffed while the cop goes to take a duke...then apparently before the hospital is put into lock-down by cop who wouldn't have been gone longer than 15 minutes, Begbie un-tethers himself to all the wires he's hooked up to, he roams the halls looking for a spot that is empty so he can knock someone out, knocks that person out, removes and changes clothes with his limp body (would be a very time-consuming task, especially while one person is limp and the other is injured), then casually walks out...all before the cop is done with an on-duty #2?! Come on. Then later Begbie (in an implausible way) meets Renton - who's a runner in his off-time now - and a foot-chase begins. The much older-looking Begbie, who's just coming off a 20-year stint in the clink while the younger Renton has been training this whole time, somehow keeps up with Renton during the long chase. He then stabs Renton in the arm. This arm gets no attention the rest of the way, despite what looked to be a pretty serious injury...he's fine the next scene. All of this should have been re-written. Which leads me to Spud. Spud, if you haven't seen the movie, is no longer the happy-go-lucky Spud...he's suicidal and becomes, get this, an author! Whatttt?! Again, a re-write here would have been preferred. And, also, now Sick Boy has a coke problem but doesn't do heroin anymore. Trainspotting was kind of about, you know, heroin! 3 of the 4 barely even mention it anymore...they do more coke and drinking than anything...and by the end, none of the 4 are hooked in any sort of way. Spud seemed to drop his 25+ year habit after a long jog and a nice talk. Why did the filmmakers decide on the unnecessary and unlikely change of heart towards the characters and heroin? This is Trainspotting!
What should have been done instead? I think Renton should have came back because he ran into a illegal money-making situation like his mates did with Mikey Forrester 20 years earlier. Maybe a plan to rob a warehouse where he somehow found out heroin was being stored there. He would decide to come back to town and meet up with the three old mates and relieve his guilt, offering them a deal where they make up the 4000 pounds plus a heck of a lot more in exchange for their forgiveness. This would have been a great start to a fun sort of story (fun like Trainspotting was fun to watch). And you could have ended it a million different exciting ways. Instead there is a lot of depression and regret and guilt by the characters and it weighed down the fun factor in my opinion.
Overall, I was just so glad to see the old characters back. And despite the flaws, it's an interesting movie to watch, an alternate sort of take to Trainspotting. It's a really good movie that really could have been a great one with a little better script.
JD