T2 Trainspotting- a film of dirty perfection and the perfect 20 year follow up

I am SO pleased to type these words.

SO pleased....

Back in 1996, something occurred in cinema's, and on VHS (remember video?) and DVD that was nearly close to perfect filth, degradation,and polished reflection of a killer lifestyle.....and it was polished to such a high sheen, you could use it as a mirror.

(Zak's getting a touch emotional - bear with pls)

Anthems were born...Underworld's Born Slippy was used to utter film perfection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iKFn8dlxX8

It was and still is one of the best ugly beauties of all time in my opinion.

I was truly excited and utterly terrified about T2 Trainspotting..

/deep breath

another thing occurred... it was as phenomenal and possibly .... possibly better.

it echoed the original but somehow it shouted it louder and prouder.

It was prettier... and yet it's managed to darken the story further.

The score is literally background.. it whisps in and out... it's so hard to hear.. and yet you can hear it easily..... the echoes of the original are so beautifully placed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_5vZWgnuL0

I smiled, I felt dragged back in time AND I saw young actors as older men... and I am older....they are my mirror

Was a great viewing tonight on my projector. It worked for me utterly. Entirely.

Spud made me happy and sad, Renton made me happy and glad... Tommie's ghost made be despair... Sick Boy made me angry and mad and glad.. and Begbie....well....Begbie didn't do drugs either. He just did people. Still want's too.

Can't score it properly though..... it's a 10/10 for me... right now it emotionally hooked me in, in such a huge way, so emotionally, that I'm too tied to it to be clear cut on my score.
tomorrow it maybe 9/10. But it IS a 9 minimum

it's a work of perfection. Young characters I grew up with in my head......fighting the life I can see them trying to live on screen. The best part:I can't see actors. I see real people.

you can't ask more from a film tbh.

And at no point did Obi Wan pop into my head... which helps!

If you're 40 plus and witnessed the first, originally....... pull up a bottle of pinot grigio (I jest) and absorb. It's a killer!
if you're 30 plus and you saw the first a decade after it was "alive and dying of a skag OD" you need to see it

If you're any age and haven't seen either...

I beg..implore... I grovel at your film-viewing-feet

Do them in order and be ready.

Over n out

Yeah, it really, really worked...

I'd advise reading the books, (Trainspotting and P0rno) there's a lot more in them, T2 seemed to go easy on the crew, it was more of a tribute to them than the utterly bleak reality of the 2nd book.

Saw both at release, apparently because I'm old...

I kinda get it, but only watch because my arty farty thesbian friends are so into it. Still not sure if I like it or not, if I'm supposed to like it or not, if I'm supposed to take anything from it or not... dunno what to make of it.

I really enjoyed it even more than the original, the way it all came back to just the lads at the end and everything they have been through. It is literally how a sequel should be on every level

i have been thinking of it today.

was truly amazing.. I rarely think about a film the whole day after.

that remix of the score was genius

i'm going to disagree here. The book was far more involved and did a lot more to carry on the story, rather than spend most of its time paying tribute to the first film. To me it felt like one of those flashback episodes you get in a sitcom when the writers are struggling for new material.

It was decent and enjoyable to sink back into Renton's world, but I felt it lacked the danger and intensity of the original.

The book is brilliant tho.

Skagboys is also worth a read, it's the prequel, all about how they got into H in the first place.

In fact, all of Irvine Welsh's books are worth a read, just be prepared to go around with your internal voice being Scottish for a while...

I read Trainspotting and didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the film. Not sure why. So I didn't read the second part and utterly enjoyed the film

However... Filth as a book, is seriously good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Smudger

just be prepared to go around with your internal voice being Scottish for a while...

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It already is, anyway...

I enjoyed T2 for the most part, but there was a bit of a 'plot hole' which irritated me somewhat. Of course I can't really explain it without spoilers.

Do we not have the 'Spoiler quote' feature enabled, here?

[spoiler]Test[/spoiler]
[s]Test[/s]

Apparently not...
Put it in white text, maybe?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrJim

I enjoyed T2 for the most part, but there was a bit of a 'plot hole' which irritated me somewhat. Of course I can't really explain it without spoilers.

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Ello ello

Put it in white text as the man says.... would be interested to see what you mean

Hmm, either I'm missing something obvious, or something's wonky with the Forum today? I'm using the 'advanced' reply page to try and post a reply, but I can't see any of the text tools like italics, bold, or text colour etc?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrJim

Hmm, either I'm missing something obvious, or something's wonky with the Forum today? I'm using the 'advanced' reply page to try and post a reply, but I can't see any of the text tools like italics, bold, or text colour etc?

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It's not you. Forum is indeed wonky.
It also lags when trying to quote like this and I had to click on it a second time just to trigger this page...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster

It's not you. Forum is indeed wonky.
It also lags when trying to quote like this and I had to click on it a second time just to trigger this page...

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Ah! I'm glad it's not just me then! Well, once the Forum is back to normal, I'll post my thoughts on T2!

I'm trying to sort Quote next week

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zak33

I'm trying to sort Quote next week

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Thanks!

T2 is no way better than than T1 nor does it need to be, it's different film, in a different time that stands on it's own merits. 8/10 for me where as T1 is probably 9/10 and when I saw it at the cinema back in the day it was definitely a 10/10.

The thing is Zacky, like you, when I saw T2, i was just internally praying that Mr Boyle did a proper and didn't screw it up like so many sequels do, if it can be called that. And thankfully it was fairly obvious that from early on that he hadn't, my greatest criticism, if it can be called that, is that its overly nostalgic. But as the theme of the film is growing up/old & developing then I suppose it was always going to be.

Ewen Bremner deserves an award for his portrayal as Spud, easily the best actor and character in this film by a country mile.

I love T2 but it's definitely not Porno. I would say it was stretching the truth to say it was even based on the book. It's a shame as Porno is really funny as we missed the chance to meet Juice Terry!

I don't think T2 was overly nostalgic though it's definitely a backward looking film. I think that it'll fit in far better when T3 is made, if it ever is. It did feel like a middle film.

BTW, if you read Trainspotting then not only will your internal voice sound Scottish but there's a good chance you'll end up swearing a lot more. I never swore till I read the book :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zak33

Ello ello

Put it in white text as the man says.... would be interested to see what you mean

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Great, it seems that the text tools for message replies are working again, thanks for that!

Well I'm not sure my criticism of T2 is a 'plot hole' as such, more just something that struck me as being a bit unbelievable. Not that much of T2 (or indeed the original Trainspotting are true to life (e.g, the worst toilet in Scotland scene!), but for some reason this particular aspect stood out for me. I'll explain in white text below:

So Begbie gets another prisoner to stab him, so he can be sent to hospital and engineer his escape. In doing so, he violently assaults a doctor, & proceeds to seek out his wife / partner and son. Now, I'm no expert in police procedure, but surely, the first place you'd look for a violent escaped convict, would be his relatives, friends, or other associates? And yet despite obviously staying with his family for several days, there's absolutely no sign of the police! Are the police in Edinburgh really that incompetent?!

Oh, and one other small thing that irked me somewhat. The small 'cameo' role for Kelly Macdonald's character felt very contrived, and just an excuse to get Diane back into the sequel somehow.

I do agree that Ewen Bremner was fantastic though, he's such a good actor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrJim

Great, it seems that the text tools for message replies are working again, thanks for that!

Well I'm not sure my criticism of T2 is a 'plot hole' as such, more just something that struck me as being a bit unbelievable. Not that much of T2 (or indeed the original Trainspotting are true to life (e.g, the worst toilet in Scotland scene!), but for some reason this particular aspect stood out for me. I'll explain in white text below:

So Begbie gets another prisoner to stab him, so he can be sent to hospital and engineer his escape. In doing so, he violently assaults a doctor, & proceeds to seek out his wife / partner and son. Now, I'm no expert in police procedure, but surely, the first place you'd look for a violent escaped convict, would be his relatives, friends, or other associates? And yet despite obviously staying with his family for several days, there's absolutely no sign of the police! Are the police in Edinburgh really that incompetent?!

Oh, and one other small thing that irked me somewhat. The small 'cameo' role for Kelly Macdonald's character felt very contrived, and just an excuse to get Diane back into the sequel somehow.

I do agree that Ewen Bremner was fantastic though, he's such a good actor.

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With ref to one of the bits in white:

Diane has a much bigger part in the book, and her involvement is key to a major plot in that book, which wasn't even mentioned in the film...

all round agreement about Ewen Bremner... Spud is a piece of perfect casting and acting.

ref Begbie in white text, yes I agree but do you know what? I didn't think about it for one moment until ut was pointed out. For me it was just... there. Part of it.

Maybe they already looked and he turned up after they left... or they just don't care and assume he'll be taken care of by fate?

I need to re-read P0rno and I hardly remember anything in it and I must have been at least 17years since I first read it. Skagboys I wasn't aware of so will definitely be getting a copy of that.

Such a wealth of crazy characters inexplicably left out in T2.
Enjoyed it, but majorly disappointed about what it wasnt, but loud soundtrack in cinema made up for it.
Also Trainspotting Live in the theatre - very scary audience participation - luckily I got away with one of the actors asking for a drink from my pint, didn't fancy it after he taken a glug, then reminded myself he was an actor and not some junkie jakey.

A friend of mine says watching Trainspotting makes her extremely happy. Quite liked both parts, but to me they are just good movies

I think I love the nostalgia for all the right reasons :)

I'm gonna watch it again soon.

Both Trainspotting and T2 are amazing movies, anything Danny Boyle is involved in is pure gold in my opinion. I remember watching Trainspotting as a young kid and not completely understanding it, going back and rewatching it made me realise it's an all time British classic, and T2 was almost as good, would be nice to see a third movie in 20 years time.