Rating: 
Summary: Must have a weird sense of humor to enjoy - like me!!
Review: When I first started watching this movie one night on the Independent Film Channel, I had already missed half of it. No matter!!! Even half of this film is as great as the whole! Finally, when it came out on DVD, I was happy to watch it in full.......so many times I lost count.The film is about heroin addicts that try to deal with their heroin addiction and "choosing life". The main character, Mark Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, who later starred in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, tries to resolve the pros and cons of heroin addiction and "leading a useful and fullfilling life as a good citizen". While off heroin, Renton's eyes are no longer obscured from the heroin and can discern the harse realities of society, and even finding an overwhelming urge for sex, of which heroin used to block out. Unfortunately, life isn't all that one could hope, and Renton and his friends "make a democratic decision" to relapse. After an overdose of heroin and "jellies", Renton is taken to hospital and later under house arrest, strictly enforced by his parents, until he withdraws from his heroin addiction. Amazed how wonderful life is without his friends, Renton realizes choosing life is best. But his friends won't go away. They require Renton to help with a "scag deal". End the end, Renton reaps the rewards. The movie is quite humurous with well expressed quips and twists. McGreogor's character, Renton, initially mocks the purpose of living a "useful" life, however, realizes "choosing life" is the answer. So......"Choose life". Buy this movie!!! May not be suitable to anyone under 17. Recommend adult supervision. Contains some nudity and harse realities.
Rating:
Summary: I think some viewers don't understand it
Review: I have just read all of your reviews for this EXTREMELY WELL-DONE, FAST-PACED, FLAWLESSLY-WRITTEN, SUPERBLY-ACTED movie, and yes, you have the right to your opinion, but I can't accept the reasons for your disapproval. You obviously didn't watch the movie because not only are the characters utterly human, funny and emotional, they change and GROW considerably, vying for the viewers' sympathy. You can't help but watch and see how each turns out. And it could've been any one of us. I'm not saying all of us have the capacity to become addicted to a drug, but it DOES happen, and these guys (we'll focus on the men) are REGULAR, football-playing, Sean Connery-loving guys who happen to have a lethal and expensive drug habit. But what's so wonderful about this film is that the title character, Renton, WANTS to give it up, wants to come clean, and you WANT him to do it, of course. He fails sometimes, but once he kicks it, you cheer for him, and you hope he has the capacity to stick to his guns. You almost want to grab his hand and lead him to the end of the movie, making sure he'll be okay. How powerful a character is that? It's really brilliantly done. In all honesty, the first time I saw it, I didn't understand it (the accents and the story-line), but seeing it again made me only want to see it more, because with every viewing, I fell in love with Mark Renton (not Ewan, but Mark). And that's damn good movie making.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie Experience
Review: This is a great movie. Well worth keeping you will laugh, cry, laugh, cry all through it. A truly great performance from Ewan Mcgregor. If you ever go to Scotland you will find characters like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the action hungry
Review: That is one thing this Movie is lacking in is Action, but that is actually it's strength as cliched action scencs will totally destroy this movie. This movie is intelligent, funny, and quite thought provoking. But what about it? Drugs seems to be the main focus here to many people but it is not. "Life" is the main focus in this movie. Drug addiction is just one way of looking at it, and this prespective is done really well. Though I never did heroin in my life, I heard that it was an excrutiaing experience during withdrawl... but this is true for most drugs that have a similar mode of action as heroin. What about life though? What's the point of this movie? The point is life, and life is just something you make of it, and is your choice wether you decide to pick it up, or dump it down the toilet. But life it self can be a joke in some respect, and also quite depressing to choose a life to become another "Average Joe", blending into everything... barely noticable.
Rating:
Summary: Worth watching
Review: I thought this was a great movie. I don't have such intimate personal experience, but it seemed to me to show a fairly realistic view of the life of an addict. I have heard various people say that this movie glorifies drug use. I think that this is like saying that showing car crashes glorifies driving. I thought the movie was well done and engrossing, though not necessarily entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: fabulous, but it may not be for you...
Review: This movie was beautiful, horrible, and unforgettable. A gritty, intimate look at heroin use, this film illustrated instead of proselytizing. The filmmakers and actors were able to incorporate life's inherent humor into this tale of five friends, along with some of the most nauseating and loathsome realities of modern drug use. Mark Renton, through whose eyes the story is told, is utterly human, a convincing character who, in his inability to be the hero we might initially seek, becomes believable in his multitude of shortcomings. As duly noted in other reviews, this movie is understandably going to be too much for some people to swallow. However, if you have the stomach and the will, this movie delivers hard and fast, and leaves you with a strong, satisfying ending.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I love this movie, it;s especially great when your watching it for the first time. i love the soundtrack too. it's an entertaining story for our generation that almost never seems to slow down. really fast paced and engrossing. no matter who you are you'll gain something from this film.
Rating:
Summary: a work of art
Review: Trainspotting is an extraordinarily well crafted film in terms of the various elements of film technique- lighting, sound, acting, screenplay, dialogue, color, composition, camera and editing. The theme is fresh. Youth is a stage that is fraught with danger in testing the waters, and rites of passage, a stage that in modern western culture has no prearranged stage or ceremony. Neither are there role models nor family. The parents are out to lunch although they do their best- who doesn't? Volatile, sensitive Youth is for all practical purposes alone, dangerously alone, with no boundaries or self-control. Renton, our hero, does heroin. His unsavory pal does liquor and people. Self-afflicted damage vs damage to others is an under current theme of Trainspotting. Money is everywhere, as are drugs, those of discontent housewives, and those found in bars, as well as illegal ones. Self-medication is rampant, stylized (not glorified) in the film. Brilliant color schemes and set design hark back to Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange yet add something new and different. Neglect of youth is generational and a threat to young life and society. Theme is brilliantly expressed via the superb acting of Ewan MacGregor and all the others. Nothing is left to chance, no detail too unimportant to convey, in the brilliant directing work of Danny Boyle. The editing conveys the restless pace of angst-ridden young heroin addicts, along with the brilliantly selected score by Bowie and Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed, among others. In the opening scene alone, all the elements of film work together to present theme and introduce characters: Renton colliding with a moving car, grinning with bold mischief when he realizes he has triumphed over death; Sick Boy and Alison swooning with ectasy when they shoot up, the gaudily colored set vs the reality of the shabby drug house and neglected baby of young parents who are too busy trying to escape from reality to care for the one they love the most. All is incredibly and expertly choreographed to Bowie's and Iggy Pop's title track. Even the voice-over narration by Renton works remarkably well, a feat in and of itself, given the sorry track record of most film narrations. This is a tragic story, and far from "glorifies" hard drug abuse. It is also rich with blackly humorous dialogue, acting and camera work- the "worst bathroom in Scotland "scene, for instance. The film is visually stunning, poetically inspiring and meticulously directed. And it raises a few more questions about the values of society than it answers, which is what any decent work of art should do.
Rating: 
Summary: no thanks
Review: after hearing about how 'great' this movie was and seeing all the good reviews, i finally rented it. and i HATED it. i hate this movie more than any other movie i've ever seen. i can't exactly tell you why...the characters were boring, and worthless, I didn't feel any sympathy for them at all. This movie just glorified drug use. bleh. i'll give it 1 star for ewan.
Rating:
Summary: From Out Of The Shadows
Review: The trio of producer Andrew McDonald, writer John Hodge and director Danny Boyle had had pretty good critical and reasonable commercial success with their debut feature Shallow Grave, but no one expected what was coming next. Out of the shadows, came a film about heroin addicts in Scotland that surely wouldn't be a success, would it?
Trainspottings rise to cult status was a remarkable one. After all, it did not seem to have the automatic ingredients of a runaway hit. It may not have made a huge impact in the States, but in Britain it took the nation by storm. Everyone knew the name, the poster, probably some of the dialogue, even if they hadn't seen the film, and if you hadn't you felt like you were missing out on something special! In terms of a culture shift, there has been no more important film in the last 15 years. It relaunched British interest in Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, spawned countless imitators, and propelled six young actors into the limelight who will always be known for their roles in the film. It was also the platform for Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlysle to take on Hollywood. Believe me, if it wasn't for Trainspotting, someone else would have played Obi Wan in Phantom Menace and the villain in the World is Not Enough.
So what makes this film so special. Great performances, cool soundtrack, sharp dialogue, a storyline that is as harrowing as it is funny. It really just captured the mood of a nation, and showed drug use with brutal honesty, not with glamour or with unneccesary preaching. Perhaps thats why it caused such a furore, not because it dared to state an opinion, because it dared not to. The truth is a dangerous thing.
Being British in 1996 and seeing this was a very special thing, but it is still a magnificent film for any audience that withstands repeated viewings. A truly unique cinematic experience.
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