Choose Life: Review of T2: Trainspotting

T2: Trainspotting

Director: Danny Boyle

By Alex Watson

20 years in the making, Danny Boyle's Cool Britannia reunion is one that feels very welcome. While T2: Trainspotting may be lacking in story, seeing the gang back together feels incredible. The passage of time has been a real test and frequent delays made us wonder if we would ever see this sequel? Danny Boyle's direction isn't quite strong or passionate as the original, but no-one else could have brought this to fruition but him.

After betraying his friends years ago, Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) has been living in Amsterdam. Compelled to return to his native Edinburgh, Renton revisits his old 'so-called mates'. Sickboy (Jonny Lee-Miller) is still living a seedy life running a ramshackle pub. Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle) escapes prison in a furious rage and is out for revenge on Mark. Luckless Spud Murphy (Ewan Bremner) is still addicted to heroin and estranged from wife Gail (Shirley Henderson).

"So what have you been up to for 20 years?" asks Sickboy during the big reunion. That is the question all audience members minds through the opening half of T2: Trainspotting. The characters are as we remember them, but Boyle doesn't investment long enough on how their lives panned out over the last two decades. Both Renton and Sickboy are the movies centre piece and the lurking threat of another double cross looms large. The original dealt with the follies of youth and repercussions of living dangerously. In this instalment, Boyle deals with the reflections of middle aged men and the questions that come with life. Spud sadly is the one our sympathies go with as he has been unable to kick the habit. His reunion with Mark is the one that causes both shock and hilarity in equal measure. One of the principle issues is that three of the four characters seem to be lacking depth. Both Sickboy and Renton feel like older versions of their old counterparts while Spud is exploited simply for comic effect.

Cinema's favourite psycho Begbie has lost none of his firepower. A human ball of continued rage, Begbie is like a bull in a china closet from his opening scene. Rather than making him the movie's main threat, Boyle goes deeper by introducing his wife and son. In one moving scene, our sympathy for him increases when we hear about one faith night in a decrepit Leith train station. The side plot diversions are a mixed bag, the one about Sickboy's prostitute girlfriend/business partner Veronika (an excellent Anjela Nedyalkova) works well. A tug of war of between friends start for her affections but we are never sure which way she leans. There is also the notion of 'watching history repeat itself' and as old friends delve in old pastures things threaten to get out of balance. Sickboy and Renton's comradery during these sequences is what gives this sequel its glow. In one sectarian pub, they are forced to improvise a song about the Battle of Boyne. What follows is a bizarre but catchy song about Catholics deaths.

It cannot be denied that it feels good to finally see this on screen again. Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge's tailoring of the characters has a slightly flat feel. Getting older and figuring out how their lives brought them to this point is the real selling point. Reflecting on the past and how they used to be, some painful past ghosts are revealed. Renton's previous betrayal has left a deep seeded resentment in many of the characters- they have each dealt with it differently. Renton's reasons for coming home are frustrating ambiguous- what is out of duty? Or did his past guilt become too painful to bear? By throwing himself back into his world, Mark is not just reopening his old wounds but is threatening to push other over the edge. As Begbie skulks around, we anxiously await the inevitable showdown. Danny Boyle has taken his sweet time but thankfully his pride remains intact in this sequel. Now for the debate about whether T3 will come around?

Ewan McGregor is a wiser and more assured Renton this time around. Still showcasing the same cocksure attitude that won him so many admirers- McGregor feels born to play this character. After a nasty fallout with Boyle over the movie The Beach, their reunion is a great thing. Jonny Lee Miller is also wonderful again as Sickboy and his morally complex approach again is magnificent. Is Sickboy simply drawing his friend in for the kill? Or does he relish this second chance at friendship? Robert Carlyle once more is a tour de force as permanently angry Begbie. Not losing an ounce of intimidation, Carlyle commands the screen. Though this time, he is allowed more room to explore and the root cause of his problems are brilliantly presented. Ewan Bremner however, is wasted as the lovable idiot Spud. He is given little else to but be the group buffoon when so much else could have been possible.

T2: Trainspotting might not be the unforgettable experience that we wanted, but still it is a movie that brings us full circle. Cool Britannia is still alive and well.

The Innovator: Review of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Director: Danny Boyle

By Alex Watson

Although it lacks the needed back story about the rise of one of this centuries greatest innovators, Steve Jobs is still a fine picture by Danny Boyle. Aided by a typical talkative Aaron Sorkin script, events play out like more of a three act play than a cinematic piece. Jobs is not made out as likable by any means but his dedication and ambition to his craft is always admirable. His relationship with those around him however, gives his life a more strained feel.

Examining three very significant events in the life of Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) such as the release of the ill-fated first Apple Macintosh which would lead to his dismissal. Through these moments we witness the fiery determination and the towering ego which although brought him worldwide admiration, also alienated him from those closest to him. 

Steve Jobs gives us a breathless opening inning where the clock counts down to the first launch of the Apple Mac in 1984. Jobs is fiercely determined to make his beloved machine speak 'Hello' to its audience. On display in this sequence is a complex array of emotions as Jobs berates, charms and threatens his 'Work Wife' Joanna Hoffman (A terrific Kate Winslet) and engineer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg). In this sequence we also gain a window into his human side and more importantly, his stubbornness. Jobs refuses to accept that his daughter Lisa is his child even though it has been proven. Her mother Chrisann (Katherine Waterston) cannot fathom the reason for this rejection and Jobs clings to the same algorithm that 28% of population could be the father. 

Danny Boyle doesn't set out to make Jobs any kind of Martyr figure and in truth he is both hero and villain combined. Despite warnings from Joanna such as “If you keep on alienating people for no reason, there will be no one left to say ‘Hello!’Jobs' ego makes him pay the greatest price. After he irreparably strains his relationship with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogan) and CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) due the failure of the Mac and his refusal to acknowledge the success of the Apple II- he is inevitably forced out. Rather painting this as a revenge or redemption piece, Boyle instead focus on the man himself. Through this he lifts the lid and reveals the self-doubt that Jobs feels within himself, perhaps brought on by his adoption as a child. 

For all its merits, it does feel disappointing that Steve Jobs only focuses on the early years and not the breakthrough products such as the iPad. We are only briefly given windows into the early life of Jobs which although provided momentary glimpses of a far different man is not nearly enough. Boyle focuses on the technical innovation that made this man an almost god like figure to the people who brought products. Jobs believed that computers should almost be as a friendly as people themselves and his perfectionism that angered colleagues was because he believed something . There are subtle hints towards the future products that would cement the Apple name, such as his preference for all rectangle corners be rounded. In the end, Boyle does a great job of making a difficult persona into something fascinating. 

As the man himself, Michael Fassbender proves the perfect jobs as the Apple impresario. Effectively channeling his insecurities with himself along with his sophistry, Fassbender holds the movies centre with such force that eclipses all others. By far one of the best leading men this year, this could be movie another Oscar nod coming right up. Kate Winslet refuses to get upstaged by Fassbender and rings in her own fine turn as the dry humoured Hoffman. In a dowdy and more low key performance, Katherine Waterston wins the most sympathy as Chrisann Brennan, a woman struggling to raise the very daughter that Jobs frequently rejects. 

Steve Jobs might not be a movie for everyone to appreciate, but the sheer power of its central performance lights up the picture. David Fincher may have rejected the chance to bring Jobs to the screen, but Danny Boyle has proven to the perfect man to do so.