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Dom Robinson reviews

The Definitive Edition

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Trainspotting on DVD
Choose life, choose a job, choose a career, choose a family, choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers, choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance, choose fixed interest mortgage repayments, choose a starter home, choose your friends, choose leisure wear and matching luggage, choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics, choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning, choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing gameshows stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth, choose rotting away at the end of it all pissing your last in a miserable home nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish fucked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves, choose your future, choose life, but why would I want to do a thing like that?

I chose not to choose life, I chose something else, and the reasons?
There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?


Cover Trainspotting tells the tale of Renton, a man with a chronic heroin addiction, who is trying to kick the habit. Not easy as you might imagine, but inventive visuals from the director make his journey almost as real for the viewer as it is for his character, played superbly by Ewan McGregor.

Also thrown into the mix is Diane (Kelly McDonald, most recently seen in BBC1's State of Play), Renton's new girlfriend, who has one major surprise for him; Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller, who aims to kick the habit at the same time as Renton - not for any particular reason, other than to completely piss Renton off as to how easily it can be done; Spud (Ewen Bremner), Renton's best friend, who isn't very good in job interviews, and even worse at trying to keep his bedsheets clean; Tommy (Kevin McKidd), a sex-mad drug-hater, who makes XXX videos with his girlfriend; and last, but not least, Begbie, played by the always-excellent Robert Carlyle, whose hit comedy, The Full Monty, was screened at my local cinema for seven months straight and was still pulling in the crowds when the video went on sale. Begbie is a complete madman, always getting drunk and looking for the next fight... oh, and swearing a great deal too...

A few cameos in this film include Keith Allen, who showed up as the temporary flatmate in Shallow Grave, and appears here as a drug buyer; My Name is Joe's Peter Mullan as drug dealer Swanney and Dale Winton playing himself as a game-show host.

On all previous DVD and VHS releases, the film was cut for nine seconds of drug abuse, for viewing the actual needle piercing the skin while injecting, the same thing that Pulp Fiction suffered when released on UK video, laserdisc and DVD. Trainspotting: The Definitive Edition is, thankfully, totally uncut. However, when it was originally released on DVD, an uncut version accidentally escaped into the open for a while before being recalled and I got one of those :)

Of course, the extras were very thin on the ground by comparison to this 2-disc release.

A word about the film first, though. If you never saw it on any previous release then you must see it now. If you enjoyed it before then you'll still do so now. It really is a fantastic ride of entertainment and makes you wonder how director Danny Boyle could come up with the steaming pile of emptyness that was 28 Days Later.

On a side note, the original American release of this film had the first twenty minutes dubbed into American accents (!), and some sex scenes removed. When the MPAA (the USA equivalent of the BBFC) asked director Danny Boyle what Diane was doing to Renton while on top and reaching down with her hand between his legs... he said "Tickling his balls". The MPAA were not amused, and instructed him to cut the scene.


Cover The picture is framed at the original intended ratio of 1.77:1, so will fit exactly into the frame of a widescreen television. The image is also anamorphic and looks fantastic throughout with nothing to complain about.

The sound quality is superb. While it has a number of relatively quiet scenes of plain dialogue, it really comes into its own when blasting out classic tracks such as : Iggy Pop - Lust For Life; Heaven 17 - Temptation; Underworld - Born Slippy and Sleeper - Atomic, a cover version I didn't expect. After watching this film, every time I hear the latter on the radio, it brings me back to the moment where Renton's sexual appetite returns and he cops off (and more) with then-newcomer Kelly MacDonald.

Both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks are included here, but while I always go for the later it won't make a massive amount of difference in this film if you don't have DTS.

The extras are as follows:

The main menus loop "Atomic" with brief bits of film footage hazed out in orange to blend in with the look of the packaging. Subtitles are in English only, but even if you don't select those you'll still see them during a nightclub scene but that's intentional. The film is separated by 20 chapters.

FILM
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS



OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2003.

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