Theres something about British films that I've always loved. Maybe its the fact that Guy Ritchie has a few of my favorite films, maybe I just the love accents, for whatever reason I like British films an awful lot. Trainspotting is a movie I have wanted to see for a long time but could never seem to find it. Well now that I have moved up to Canada I found it and have now had the pleasure in watching it. Last year Danny Boyle released Slumdog Millionaire which won all sorts of Oscars including Best Picture but Trainspotting is where he got his first big break. It is a wonderful film that is powerful and disturbing but also darkly funny. The script is great and the characters and memorable and well acted.

Trainspotting chronicles the adventures of Renton; a heroin addict and his gang of friends. His friends are Spud; a dimwitted but good hearted heroin user, Sick Boy; another user who boasts an impressive knowledge of Jame Bond and Sean Connery, Tommy; a good person who never uses heroin or drugs, and Begbie; who loves nothing more than violence, he never uses heroin either. Together they use and abuse heroin while thinking of new schemes to support their habit while stealing and ripping people off.

The acting is great from the cast of mostly unknowns in the Untied States. Ewan McGregor is by far the most famous actor. He plays the lead character of Renton, his performance is wonderful and he captures the character of Renton brilliantly. Ewem Bremner plays Spud. He looks quite goofy in his role but does an excellent job. Kelly Macdonald shows up here in an early role as Renton's girlfriend. Shirley Henderson from the Harry Potter series also appears in a relatively minor role as Spud's girlfriend. The rAs you can tell from the plot description this might not be a film for everyone. Intense scenes of drug abuse, sometimes quite disturbing scenes of after math, but for a drug film it sends a pretty good message and doesn't ever really try to glorify drug use. For about the first hour or so the film is pretty light and humorous but after the first hour it becomes increasingly more dramatic and less pleasant to watch at times. But for the most part it is a pretty light film that doesn't depress you too much.

All of the main players do a fine job, Robert Carlyle is excellent as Begbie, who is practically a psychopath with an odd moral sense. Deciding on how to categorize Trainspotting is a difficult thing to do since it doesn't really fall into one particular genre. It has many elements of dark humor, but is also a drama and a gritty one at that. It blends these genres together nicely and it feels very natural. The soundtrack is excellent, many great tunes are used and many that I have never heard before appeared. It felt very lively and helped keep the movie moving.

Overall Trainspotting is an excellent movie full of great performances and dialog. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand with the thick accents and fast talking but its not too bad and its nice to hear Scottish accents. Its not exactly a nice film, the characters are all bad people, they steal, rip people off, and do whatever they can to get their hands on heroin but its realistic. For an anti drug movie that effectively shows the consequences of addiction it handles it quite well, never trying to depress you while keeping it fairly light but also showing the all the bad things that come of it. Truly an excellent film, Danny Boyle has been trying to make the sequel for some time and I hope it is eventually made, this is a film that deserves one.

5 stars

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age