T2 Trainspotting

The original Trainspotting may have been the absolute last movie you would have expected--or even desired--to see get a sequel. So on the surface, this film's existence makes no sense. But director Danny Boyle and company are smarter than that, and that superficial judgement disappears almost immediately once this new venture gets going. Indeed, the viewer soon realizes that he's watching not only a legitimate story in its own right, but one that serves as a logical continuation and conclusion to the first movie's tale. In fact, the original is all over this sequel, with inter-cut scenes from twenty years ago informing the story as it unfolds today. In less skilled hands, that might have been distracting, if not a painfully obvious safety net--but here it works, in a big way, and the technique helps make this piece an interesting meditation on the passage of time, on who and what we are, and if there is such a thing as destiny. That's enough of a portfolio to make this flick worth the ride.