This is more a film, I think, which is about aging and repeating your past than anything else. Sure, the characters are older, but I cringe a lot as Boyle has chosen to have them repeat some of their "fave lines" from the first film, 21 years later, for no apparent reason.

The slow parts move best, for example, where Renton visits his father, despite that one being sappy. The "new girl", basically a Renton, doesn't bring much to the table.

However, Robbie Carlyle steals the show; where Ewen Bremner's "Spud" previously did, by being a comedic maestro with his movements and druggy cadence, he is now converted into a caricature of himself - and yes, I am aware that druggies who have been on dope for more than two decades tend to turn into caricatures in more ways than one - while Begbie offers more. A lot more.

Carlyle's acting is so strong that even Begbie's most obvious characteristics - e.g. as displayed where his son stands up against him by wanting to go to college to learn hotel management instead of joining his dad in a life of crime - turn interesting. He's a tour de force.

Still, while this film is interesting and entertaining, it is too much of a parody of itself to become a truly interesting introspective. And the plot turn at the end was really a bit too tell-tale and boring to me.

choose... designer lingerie, in the vain hope of kicking some life back into a dead relationship. Choose handbags, choose high-heeled shoes, cashmere and silk, to make yourself feel what passes for happy. Choose an iPhone made in China by a woman who jumped out of a window and stick it in the pocket of your jacket fresh from a South-Asian Firetrap. Choose Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and a thousand others ways to spew your bile across people you've never met. Choose updating your profile, tell the world what you had for breakfast and hope that someone, somewhere cares. Choose looking up old flames, desperate to believe that you don't look as bad as they do. Choose live-blogging, from your first wank 'til your last breath; human interaction reduced to nothing more than data. Choose ten things you never knew about celebrities who've had surgery. Choose screaming about abortion. Choose rape jokes, slut-shaming, revenge porn and an endless tide of depressing misogyny. Choose 9/11 never happened, and if it did, it was the Jews. Choose a zero-hour contract and a two-hour journey to work. And choose the same for your kids, only worse, and maybe tell yourself that it's better that they never happened. And then sit back and smother the pain with an unknown dose of an unknown drug made in somebody's fucking kitchen. Choose unfulfilled promise and wishing you'd done it all differently. Choose never learning from your own mistakes. Choose watching history repeat itself. Choose the slow reconciliation towards what you can get, rather than what you always hoped for. Settle for less and keep a brave face on it. Choose disappointment and choose losing the ones you love, then as they fall from view, a piece of you dies with them until you can see that one day in the future, piece by piece, they will all be gone and there'll be nothing left of you to call alive or dead. Choose your future, Veronika. Choose life.

OK...it may be bias, Trainspotting was one of my favorite movies, and one of the better, if frustrating, books I experienced in High School.

And, I really want to avoid any hints towards the plot as....it might kill a lot of the humor for those that haven't seen it. So excuse the vagueness, but after watching it, you might see where its necessary from an entertainment not a twist standpoint.

So...the bad: It is NOT "Porno" which breaks the heart because, well, "Porno" was absolutely hysterical, right down to why it had its title.

That being said, the draw is the cast. Trainspotting was one of those "how the hell did they make this book into a coherent movie" movies and in many aspects "Porno" would have been easier, but would certainly still fit into that mold. So it's likely better that T2 didn't follow the book.

Anyway, the joy is just seeing the crew back together again, the chemistry is still there, it's totally an ensemble cast and that was really the principal draw to the first film as well.

I don't want to give away the plot, but the cast just works so well together, they know their characters and live them. And the characters are delightful to watch.

I sort of feel that they could have thrown any script at them, and so long as the cast and characters stayed the same...the film would have been thoroughly entertaining.

It doesn't hit as hard as the first film, but everyone has aged and it's still....brilliant.

Really, you're watching it for the cast and characters, and it pays off in sheer entertainment.

Trainspotting, a movie about drug addiction and the hedonistic British scene of the 90s, returns with its sequel T2: Trainspotting. Twenty years have passed since the first film and the band is back together, with Renton (McGregor) returning to Edinburgh to reconnect with old friends and confront his past actions. Spud (Bremner) is still struggling with addiction and Sick Boy (Miller) has switched to cocaine and runs a pub while participating in blackmail sex schemes with his girlfriend Veronika (Nedyalkova). Begbie (Carlyle), who has been in prison for 25 years, escapes and seeks revenge on Renton. The film retains the same style as the original, with freeze frames, words floating on-screen, frenetic camera angles, and classic music cues. The cast has aged and the characters have changed, with themes of growing old and the disappointments of life being at the forefront. The movie is a poignant look at the lives of these four anti-heroes and how they are linked by their past.
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Trainspotting, una película sobre la adicción a las drogas y la hedonista escena británica de los 90, regresa con su secuela T2: Trainspotting. Han pasado veinte años desde la primera película y la banda vuelve a estar junta, con Renton (McGregor) regresando a Edimburgo para reconectarse con viejos amigos y confrontar sus acciones pasadas. Spud (Bremner) todavía está luchando contra la adicción y Sick Boy (Miller) ha cambiado a la cocaína y dirige un pub mientras participa en esquemas sexuales de chantaje con su novia Veronika (Nedyalkova). Begbie (Carlyle), que lleva 25 años en prisión, escapa y busca vengarse de Renton. La película conserva el mismo estilo que la original, con fotogramas congelados, palabras flotando en la pantalla, ángulos de cámara frenéticos y pistas de música clásica. El elenco ha envejecido y los personajes han cambiado, con temas de envejecimiento y las decepciones de la vida al frente. La película es una mirada conmovedora a la vida de estos cuatro antihéroes y cómo están vinculados por su pasado.

**To face a revenge threat!**

Okay the first film was good one. Then I thought it was unnecessary to make a sequel for it. But someone clarified that it was not made outside the novel to make money. It's indeed adapted from the sequel book of the original film's source. Though coming out 20 years later was the disadvantage. Except some praises it had received, particularly by its hardcore fans, it was average at the box office and I thought same as well.

I did not like the story. It was just a random drag, not knowing what direction to head. That's until the third act, and once all the three main characters come together, so it gets interesting with something. Like surviving from from a revenge threat. It was the actors who saved the film. Otherwise, it is not even an average as I consider now. I don't think retaining the title was a good idea, but I think it was just for its fans. Or else, a new title name would have done a decent justice to what it had narrated.

As I know, this is the director's first ever sequel and he's not getting better since his Oscar win, a decade ago. Especially the last two flicks, despite based on the very good subjects. Definitely no to the T3. Instead, I want another Oscar nod film from him. This would have been ever worse if somebody else would have made it. Yet, a watchable film, only if you had liked the first. So just think about it before going for it after seeing only positive words from a few people.

_5/10_