T2 Trainspotting (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

T2 Trainspotting (2017) – D. Boyle

Is it because I’ve turned 50 that I feel inundated with cinematic offerings that are looking back and commenting (directly or postmodernly) on the journey we’ve all been on for the past few decades?  Twin Peaks: The Return, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Blade Runner 2049, probably others, all seem to be forcing me to contemplate the processes of aging, remembering, learning, forgetting, changing, enduring.  This reminds me of Dan McAdams’ research that has people tell their life stories (suggesting that older people may sort themselves into those who offer stories of “redemption”, overcoming challenges and obstacles, and those who offer stories of “contamination”, failing to overcome obstacles). Danny Boyle’s return to Trainspotting and its characters (again scripted by John Hodge from Irvine Welsh’s novels) explicitly addresses these issues, particularly by having Spud break from his heroin addiction to channel his energies into writing the stories of the lives of the four central protagonists (in effect, the content of Welsh’s book and the first film).  But the film takes a gradual approach to revealing what has happened to Mark “Rent Boy” Renton (Ewen McGregor), Simon “Sick Boy” (Jonny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewen Bremner), and Begbie (Robert Carlyle) in the 20 years since the last movie.  Having not watched the earlier film since some time in the ‘90s, I also re-learned their history while updating the facts to the present.  It may be important to know that the previous film ended with Mark escaping with £16,000 from a drug deal, leaving his friends (except for Spud) empty handed.  So, when he returns from 20 years abroad, he isn’t entirely welcome, particularly by Begbie who, unsurprisingly, has been in jail the entire time.  Although Boyle makes some attempt to mimic the style of the 1996 film, this is a more reflective and less manic film.  There are certainly nods to the fans and to the Scottish locals (I watched with subtitles on) but ultimately the end result is something greater than a quick buck-making exercise, less disposable than I expected, and, if not quite profound, certainly another opportunity to think about time and all she brings to mind (at least for a person of a certain vintage).