Trainspotting   Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald 4DVD RRP: £15.99 F4DVD90002 Certificate: 18 Available 01 June 2009

This is the story of Mark Renton, a brash twenty-something Edinburgh junkie, and his, for want of a better word, friends. Spud, Sick Boy, Tommy and Begbie are a bunch of losers, liars, psychos, thieves and junkies. The movie charts the disintegration of their friendship as they proceed seemingly towards self-destruction. The film ultimately comes down to Renton's choice between self-destruction or life...

Trainspotting (1996) is based on Irvine Welsh's novel about a group of heroine addicts in Edinburgh. Unlike the book, which doesn't really focus on any one character, the movie revolves around Ewan McGregor's Mark Renton character as he hits a pivotal point in his young life. After coming off heroine several times, he always manages to find his way back to the addiction when life gets too much.

Rewatching this movie over ten years later I'm trying to understand why this was so critically acclaimed and why I originally enjoyed it so much. To be honest this is very much a product of its time and, unlike director Danny Boyle's earlier Shallow Grave, this has aged quite badly.

The only extra on the DVD is Memories of Trainspotting (42 min, 56 sec). This is an interesting enough featurette, apart from the fact that Boyle admits that he can't actually remember that much about making it, and cast and crew contradict each other as to whether McGregor was always in the frame to play Renton, or if he had to convince them that the part was right for him. It's also interesting to hear Ewen Bremner's totally honest thoughts - originally he played Renton in the stage version that was on before the movie was made. And Boyle reveals that there is a strong chance that in the not too distant future we may get to revisit the characters - something that all the cast seem to be onboard to do too. I was also a light surprised to hear McGregor admit that he had toyed with trying heroine to get in the right frame of mind for the film. However, as the movie was closely linked to a heroine charity/support group, he decided that it would be a kick in the face to those he' d met who were had, or were trying , kicked the drug.

While an enjoyable enough movie, even if it has aged quite badly, I would have given this 7/10 but for the fact that 4DVD are seriously ripping off DVD owners. The extra material on the Blu-ray edition (which is not that much more to be honest) would have easily fitted onto this DVD. And when you can pick up the original DVD release for under a fiver, why on Earth would anyone splash out £16 for the benefit of a new 40 minute featurette?

3

Darren Rea