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T2 Trainspotting  (DVD)

8/10

Stars: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Anjela Nedyalkova, Kevin McKidd, Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson, Irvine Welsh

Director: Danny Boyle

I must confess to not being totally smitten with Danny Boyle's original, iconic movie about worthless Scottish heroin addicts. But today's Boyle is a much more confident filmmaker, and, second time round, he delivers a terrific '20 years after' package with a clear storyline and satisfying if deeply ironic ending.

Cunningly crafted, the film, garishly lit in Technicolor, is part scabrous comedy and part suspense thriller, as the violent psycho Begbie (Carlyle) breaks out of prison - getting himself stabbed by a fellow inmate so as to be taken to hospital - and sets out for revenge on Renton (McGregor), who had hi-tailed it out of England with the £16,000 ill-gotten gains of fellow-junkies Begbie, Sickboy (Miller) and the hapless Spud (Bremner).

Though the film has lots of the expected 18-certificate elements, there's some perceptive dialogue too - 'You're a tourist in your own youth' Sickboy tells Renton - and clever use of visuals: Renton's shadow at his father's dinner table takes the place of his deceased mother.

David Quinlan

UK 2017. UK Distributor: Sony (TriStar). Technicolor.
113 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 18.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 3, Swearing 3.

Review date: 05 Jun 2017