Twenty-years-hence sequels aren’t always the best idea, especially when the original film was such as big a cultural and filmic touchstone as Trainspotting. While it was quite a hit over here upon its release in 1996, when indie film was at the height of its pop acceptance, Danny Boyle‘s heroin-addiction drama was an unbelievable, gargantuan film in the UK. It’s the movie that made Boyle a director to watch, and that which propelled star Ewan McGregor into the stratosphere (literally; it’s unlikely he’d have been Obi-Wan otherwise). So, when it came to revisiting those characters, we here were a bit concerned. We didn’t need to be, though.
Officially titled T2: Trainspotting, the movie is based on author Irvine Welsh’s Porno, the 2002 follow-up to his Trainspotting novel. Obviously, it’s not great for marketing to call your movie anything to do with pornography (just ask Kevin Smith and his pals Zack and Miri), so they’re going for T2 instead. It appears from the under-two-minute teaser that Renton (McGregor) has indeed been gone for 20 years and apparently stayed off of heroin for at least a majority of that. Now he seems to be using his “choose life” mantra to do some good.
Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) now owns or operates a pub that serves as the meeting place for the rest of the clan. Begbie (Robert Carlyle) is still up to violence, and Spud (Ewen Bremner) will probably break our heart again, possibly climbing back on “the horse.” But what really stuck us about the trailer is just how much it feels like the same characters, the same frenetic camera work, and the same vibe of Boyle adapting Welsh’s work, that we aren’t sure why we were worried in the first place.
T2: Trainspotting is expected to hit U.S. cinemas on February 10, 2017, while it opens in the UK on January 27. Let us know your thoughts on the continuation in the comments below!
Image: Sony/Film4
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
