classic from Danny Boyle

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2010)

I am not sure if I want to give this a 8, or 9 because honestly it is hard to tell what they are saying more than once. So there is fantastic dialog, but if I cannot understand what they are saying it is not good. This goes hand in hand with the narration. I love Ewan McGregor in this, but since I had to focus trying to figure out what he was saying that I missed what was happening on screen sometimes. The reason that I give this a 9 though is because I love this movie. I really love how the direction reflects the tone of the film and what is happening on the screen. The introduction of the characters at the beginning with the narration gives so much information that is an overload honestly, but I think that is the point. I love how during his kicking of the habit after his overdose how there was no continuity between shots and it was as frenetic as possible. The music was awesome and I really loved some of the soundtrack choices. All of the acting was top notch and to pick out any of the cast as a stand out is hard because they all played it out perfectly. I think the most successful part of the film is that Boyle never makes you want to do heroine, but definitely is able to demonstrate why these people are hooked. As soon as you might think that you want to try some he just hits you in the right way so you DO NOT want to ever try it. I love how Renton at the end just says that I am a bad person and that there was no real hero here and the fact that we were rooting for those terrible human beings says a lot about the film. One of my favorite scenes is when Spudd is messing up with job interview and with Renton right before that trying to explain how to mess it up, but not too badly. Then Boyle takes two different cameras which from the shot differently and just cut between the two without disturbing the flow of the dialog at all. It really was a great scene and very simple trick that added to the feel of the scene and actually added a bit to the character. Great movie and it is great to see Boyle come into his own and create his own voice.