T2 Trainspotting (2017)
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Two decades after the events of the first film, a group of old friends reunite in Edinburgh to navigate the complexities of their pasts and present lives.
The story
Now living in Amsterdam, 46-year-old Mark Renton suffers a heart attack in a gym. Though two decades sober from heroin, he is now undergoing divorce and facing imminent redundancy. He decides to take a nostalgic trip back to Edinburgh. He reunites with his old friends, including the struggling Spud and the volatile Sick Boy. The narrative follows the group as they navigate their current lives while dealing with the lingering shadows of their shared past and the looming threat of their old rival, the volatile Francis "Franco" Begbie, who is recently out of prison and seeking retribution.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Mark Renton, now 46 and living in Amsterdam, returns to Edinburgh after a heart attack. He finds Spud, who has relapsed into heroin use, and Sick Boy, who is involved in a shady business venture with his girlfriend Veronika. The group attempts to secure a grant to turn a pub into a brothel. Meanwhile, the escaped and volatile Francis "Franco" Begbie seeks out the others. After a series of escalating tensions and a confrontation with a rival brothel owner, the group faces a final showdown with Begbie. In the climax, Spud manages to knock Begbie out while the others escape. The film ends with the characters finding a sense of resolution: Spud reconciles with his family, and Renton and Sick Boy restore their friendship before Renton reconciles with his father.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 117
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Danny Boyle
- Writers
- John Hodge · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Ewan McGregor · Mark "Rent Boy" Renton; Ewen Bremner · Daniel "Spud" Murphy; Jonny Lee Miller · Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson; Robert Carlyle · Francis "Franco" Begbie; Kelly Macdonald · Diane Coulston; Shirley Henderson · Gail Houston; James Cosmo · Davie Renton, Mark's father; Anjela Nedyalkova · Veronika Kovach
- Genres
- black comedy; drama
- Themes
- addiction; friendship; passage of time
- Tone and mood
- darkly comedic; nostalgic
- Premise and plot tags
- sequel; drug culture; crime
- Source material / true-story basis
- Trainspotting (1993 novel) and Porno (2002 follow-up)
- Franchise connections
- Trainspotting
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 81% · scale: percentage · review count: 250; Metacritic · score: 67 · scale: 100 · review count: 42
- Production trivia
- The film features a new character, Veronika.; The film includes clips, music, and archive sound from the first film.; The film was set 20 years after the original.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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