A Utterly Shocking, Humorous, and Engaging Film

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2011)

With its lucidly grotesque subject matter, jarring imagery, darkly convulsive comedy, relentless pacing, and wholly pungent, disillusioned outlook on 90's Scottish society and consumer-culture, Trainspotting manages to shock and disturb as much as it entertains, providing insight on the woeful realities of the impoverished drug lifestyle and consequential addictions that ostensibly functions as an alternative to the banalities of consumerism that ultimately fails in every possible way.
The startlingly well-grounded performances are brought to life with thanks to a gritty script and sharp (albeit thickly-accented) dialogue. Unfortunately, those now-conventional staple moments of the drug drama's 'reality-sets-in' horror are far to sparse, and the zippy pacing ensures that this utterly fantastic movie ends much sooner than it should.