Last night I saw Trainspotting 2, and was really surprised.
Basic premise - 20 years later the original Trainspotting crew are reunited.  Hilarity and chaos ensues....
 
I saw the original film in 1997 with the same friend who saw the sequel with me last night.  The shock of two decades passing, and seeing the reconciliations on screen, really struck home.  We were both comparing our lives with each other and the roles on screen.  20 years ago, we were both hell-raising troublemakers (but not junkies like the film roles).  We're now older, sedate, and typical "adult" forty-somethings.  This film struck a nerve, as we were suddenly taken back to the late 90s but at the same time mirroring those days with modern life.
We had dinner after the movie, and just sat across from each other staring at the men that each other had become.  We barely spoke, but were just envisioning the punk kids that we used to be, and the greying, wrinkly skin-bags that were now sitting in their place.
 
Oh, and the soundtrack was brilliant.  While the 1997 soundtrack was pretty iconic (for me it epitomized the 90s), the sequel used the same songs but remixed/rearranged them.  It wasn't as in-your-face as blasting Iggy Pop's Lust For Life as Ewen Mcgregor is being chased by the police, but you'd be watching a scene and suddenly notice that there was a soft techno version playing in the background.   A soft piano tinkling Perfect Day in the background as the actors remember their past.  Or random synth pads playing Born Slippy...
 
The movie was decent.  But it's effect was shocking.
And today i'll be listening to that soundtrack over and over.

Trainspotting (1) was extremely unnerving to me and I'm a pretty liberal guy when it comes to movies.

Good review slugbaby I'll definitely seek it out.  As a 50 something I wont be shocked at all.  Our culture is obsessed with youth.  I knew I had got hit by the ugly-stick when the kids started calling me sir.  I get it everywhere.  At least they respect us!  haha (either that or my breath smells like the grim reaper).

I had the poster on the wall of my hovel when I was 23 or so. Great movie (the original) although I was let down a little after having read the book first. A couple of years before it came out I had made an attempt to move to Edinburgh but it didn't work out. In my apartment hunting I had loved walking through the city and seeing the insides of some of the nicer tenement buildings. So I was disappointed not to move up there and when the Trainspotting movie came out it made me regret it even more. I think everyone had the soundtrack CD when I was younger. We were all casual drug users, slightly depraved, so could identify with the characters. But we weren't quite so drug infested and depraved as they were, so it made us feel that we weren't so bad after all....

Sharke, the books are ALWAYS better.  And they actually include some references to Irvine Welsh in the film.  
The sequel novel, Porno, has virtually nothing to do with this film.  

eph221
Good review slugbaby I'll definitely seek it out.  As a 50 something I wont be shocked at all.  Our culture is obsessed with youth.  I knew I had got hit by the ugly-stick when the kids started calling me sir.  I get it everywhere.  At least they respect us!  haha (either that or my breath smells like the grim reaper).

It wasn't that I suddenly felt "old."  I've never cared about that.  Somehow the film enabled a link between now and the 1997 versions of ourselves, and even though we've been close friends throughout the time, we suddenly saw how much we'd evolved.
 
As my friend texted me today, "Who knew 20 years later you'd be the one with the marriage, steady job, mortgage and I'd be the one contemplating selling a kidney to make ends meet!"
 
And the only people that call me 'sir' are police officers and security guards.  

For once maybe someone will call me "sir" without adding "you're making a scene."
     Homer Simpson

Hi,
 
Was going to post my Trainspotting (1) review from years ago ... but I have no idea how some reviews are missing, including this one!
 
Weird, since I have always been very diligent about backups! But that's like almost 20 years ago or something! And computers were not as reliable as they are today!