T2: Trainspotting

There are certain 'Immortals' in pop culture: movies, albums, songs, art etc. Properties that shouldn't be touched, remixed, pastiched, reworked or re-imagined.

Trainspotting, for a long while, was one of these icons and, despite clamouring to release a sequel after the original was released in 1996, Danny Boyle resisted. Even with Irvine Welsh's subsequent follow up texts: prequel Skagboys and sequel Porno, there was no news on a film follow up.

It became the film of a generation; the poster for late-nineties boredom, alienation and social change. It's rare a film's soundtrack becomes as famous as the film itself but that's quite how much Boyle's film resonated with the time of its release.

It's amazing to say that now, 21 years after the fact, Boyle has revisited his best feature (yes, I know his oeuvre is impeccable but he's yet to top it.)

T2 Trainspotting (not sure what the Terminator-aping title is all about, I suppose the aforementioned book titles would be slightly risque) reunites everyone's favourite f**ked up f**k ups and everyone has come back to join in the fun. The moment Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie join each other in the same room at the same time is truly spine-tingling.

We pick up the action in the present day, literally 21 years after the events of the first. Ewan McGregor's Renton is living the clean life in Amsterdam after his betrayal but returns to Scotland after divorcing his partner. He falls back in with Sick Boy, bent on opening a brothel whilst also bribing wealthy perverts, and Spud, still using heroin and close to the end of his tether. Begbie's in prison but is hellbent on revenge upon hearing that Renton is back in the country.

Boyle's scattershot, game-changing style from the first film pops up at points; another toilet scene features a brilliant bit of split screen, we see Spud walk the same street Renton runs down at the start of the original and, in a stroke of genius, sees his former self run by, but it's not quite as groundbreaking as it was before. Boyle is far happier keeping the camera steady and focusing on the great script to do the work. Whilst this suits the older characters, and the more sombre mood, it cements the fact that this is not the same youthful, vibrant picture.

Speaking of which, the mood and tone is extremely bleak. The plot is quite thin, Boyle instead wants us to feel saddened that even age can't heal these characters; they're doomed to fail, doomed to never escape their bad luck. It's traumatic and emotional; there are scenes where you'll want some tissues, but that means this is lacking the optimism of the first film, the sense of 'what if' is not here and it can seem disconcerting.

It's sad that this film, perhaps no other film will, be as culturally important as the first. We may never again have that united, generation-defining moment. Social media culture and the sheer amount of available content across all platforms means we may never all be united again watching a film that defines our times. This rings particularly true when watching this film, and is even mentioned fantastically by Renton in T2's version of the original's "Choose Life" speech (it may even be the best bit of the entire movie.)

It feels marginally revisionist, the aforementioned reminiscence by Spud where he sees his former self comes as a stroke of genius, as does the part where we step back into Renton's train wallpaper-lined room and we see the ghostly image of Tommy walking across the Scottish 'great outdoors' but Boyle leans a little heavily on footage from the first film. Rarely does a scene go by without a cutaway of the original and it stops T2 from becoming its own movie.

Likewise, whilst the first film had the perfect mix of classic tunes and songs that would define the times (Underworld, Blur etc.) T2 skews slightly old. Yes, the soundtrack is amazing but you've got to wait until the end before hearing anything modern; having said that the use of Wolf Alice's Silk at this point is hair-raisingly brilliant.

Let's not be downbeat though, this is Trainspotting, this is Danny Boyle, Irvine Welsh and the original cast (look out for some lovely cameos), this is real, honest, moving, funny, well-acted, well-scripted and good looking. It's an older, maturer version of itself and reflects this in its tone and mood.

So, it's not as generation-defining and as cool as the first but, then, these now 40-somethings could never be. This is what happens after the fact, this is what happens when, actually, walking away with that money didn't set you up for life.

Choose growing older with these characters, choose re-living the past, choose moving on and growing out of your past relationships, choose trying to be something new but falling back into your old ways, choose who you are now not what you were then. Trainspotting's back c*nts.

4 stars ****