T2: Trainspotting

THE GIST: After 20 years living abroad, Mark Renton ventures back to Scotland and reunites with the friends he left behind—and in a lurch—when he stiffed them of their loot. Things don't go exactly smoothly for him.

I remember watching Trainspotting many years ago and being blown away by its originality and rawness. The fact that Danny Boyle was able to get the original cast back together for T2: Trainspotting after so long speaks volumes of the love the fans have for the story and the fun the actors clearly had working together back then and once again now.

I actually think I enjoyed the sequel even more than the original, because it feels more bittersweet, thanks to the aging of the characters (and the actors themselves).

Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, and Jonny Lee Miller are all fantastic. Robert Carlyle is both scary and scarily good.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Definitely recommended, although make sure you have access to subtitles; I would have been lost without them. Naturally, it would be advisable to watch the first chapter and then this one.

Grade: 8