Dom Robinson reviews

• Cat.no: 047 800 2
• Cert: 18
• Running time: 89 minutes
• Year: 1995
• Pressing: 1998
• Region(s): 2, 4 (PAL)
• Chapters: 20 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (all 3 languages)
• Languages: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, English: Hard of Hearing
• Widescreen: 16:9; Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Price: £17.99
• Extras : Scene index, Biographies

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Director:

Danny Boyle (A Life Less Ordinary, Shallow Grave, TV: "Inspector Morse")
Producer:
Andrew MacDonald
Screenplay:
John Hodge (based on a novel by Irvine Welsh).
Music:
Various artists including Iggy Pop, Heaven 17, Blondie, Underworld, Pulp, Damon Albarn, Lou Reed, Elastica and Sleeper.
Cast:
Renton: Ewan McGregor (Blue Juice, Brassed Off, Emma, A Life Less Ordinary, The Pillow Book, Shallow Grave, Star Wars: Episode I, TV: "E.R.", "Kavanagh Q.C.", "Lipstick On Your Collar")
Spud: Ewan Bremner (Deacon Brodie)
Sick Boy: Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers, Regeneration)
Tommy: Kevin McKidd (Small Faces, TV: "Kavanagh Q.C.")
Begbie: Robert Carlyle (Carla's Song, Face, The Full Monty, Priest, Riff Raff, TV: "Go Now", "Hamish MacBeth", "Looking After Jo Jo")
Diane: Kelly MacDonald
Mickey: Irvine Welsh
Drug Buyer: Keith Allen (Beyond Bedlam, Captives, Rebecca's Daughters, Shallow Grave, The Supergrass, TV: "The Comic Strip Presents...", "Inspector Morse")
Himself: Dale Winton (TV: "Supermarket Sweep")

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The film 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, and he is played superbly by the star of his generation, Ewan McGregor who has been chosen to appear as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the new Star Wars prequels.

Also thrown into the mix is Diane, Renton's new girlfriend, who has one major surprise for him; Sick Boy, 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, Renton's best friend, who isn't very good in job interviews, and even worse at trying to keep his bedsheets clean; Tommy, 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 finest hour to date, 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 couple of cameos in this film include Keith Allen, one part of pop-band Fat Les, who showed up as the temporary flatmate in Shallow Grave, and appears here as a drug buyer; and Dale Winton playing himself as a game-show host.

The picture on the widescreen version is framed at the original intended ratio of 1.77:1, so will fit exactly into the frame of a widescreen television. The disc is 16:9-enhanced for widescreen televisions and has a good average bitrate of 5.43Mb/s. The quality is mostly excellent too, with artifacts only prevalent in a few scenes and even then they're not too distracting and won't be that noticeable for those sitting at the usual viewing distance.

Those without a preference for the full picture will find a 4:3 open-matte picture on the flip-side complete with the same extras mentioned later.

The sound quality is fantastic, really coming into its own when blasting out classic tracks such as : Iggy Pop - Lust For Life; Heaven 17 - Temptation; Underworld - Born Slippy and Blondie - Atomic. 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 newcomer Kelly MacDonald.

Extras :

Chapters :

Cast And Crew Biographies :

Languages and Subtitles :

Note that whether you choose subtitles or not, they are present during the nightclub scene (ch.9) when Tommy and Spud are talking as they are intentionally there and are also in the American release.

Menu :

It's unfortunate that this, or any UK PAL version of the film will be cut for nine seconds of drug abuse. I presume this is for viewing the actual needle piercing the skin while injecting, which is the same thing that Pulp Fiction suffered from when released on UK PAL video and laserdisc.

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. Since then, an unrated NTSC Laserdisc has been released in an uncut widescreen format with a Dolby Digital soundtrack, the nine cut scenes featured here, a brief (and I mean brief) interview with the writer of the book, Irvine Welsh (who incidentally makes an appearance early on in the film as Mickey, a dealer who sells Renton his "final" hit), and an audio commentary from the director.