Choose life. Choose a career.

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2016)

The U.K. smash hit "Trainspotting" was potent and lively entertainment for this viewer, a stylish look at the underground drug scene in Edinburgh, Scotland. It shows both the horror and the humor of this day to day reality for these unfortunate souls. Screenwriter John Hodge (adapting the novel by Irvine Welsh) and director Danny Boyle give us a rich variety of moments throughout: some comical, some serious, some downright uncomfortable, and even some that are wonderfully surreal. The acting is solid all the way down the line, the soundtrack is impeccable (with Iggy Pops' "Lust for Life" getting us off to a good start), and the pacing always efficient.
Ewan McGregor plays Mark Renton, one of a group of junkies who's deeply immersed in this world, but still has the ability to be perceptive, and ponder their sorry condition. He would like to leave the life behind, but the allure of drugs and loyalty to his mates is usually too strong. His best attempts to go straight are most often thwarted in one way or another.
Sometimes "Trainspotting" is a little violent, even hilariously disgusting in one key comic sequence, but it successfully walks a line between its various tones. Boyle draws you in right from the start, giving you a real eyeful of characters and their environs. At no point are the filmmakers ever condoning drugs (which was the mistaken assumption in the North American market), and they never glamorize or overly sentimentalize anything that's going on.
McGregor is rock solid in the lead. You like Renton and root for him, and the witty, funny dialogue flows from the lips of him and his castmates with ease. Jonny Lee Miller plays Sean Connery expert "Sick Boy", Ewen Bremner the affable "Spud", Kevin McKidd the earnest Tommy, Kelly Macdonald the underage girl Diane, and Peter Mullan the drug dealing Swanney. Robert Carlyle tends to steal the show whenever he's on screen, playing the hot tempered Begbie.
This is remarkable entertainment that may get fairly grim but never loses its sense of hope for our protagonist.
Eight out of 10.