Critical Reception
The reviews were mixed. At the weeks of its United Kingdom and Australia releases, the film received a general negative reception garnering 14% approval from 21 critics – an average rating of 3.5 out of 10 – on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.
There were favourable reviews: Dave Griffiths of Buzz Magazine gave the film 5 stars writing, "Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy is an absolute ripper of a film. With some great acting and one of the best scripts to surface for a while this film is an absolute must see… and you’ll be talking about for a long time to come." Evan Williams of The Australian gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 saying, "Ecstasy comes with the full bag of cinematic tricks.... The film delivers a powerful and plausible climax."
Negative reviews came from critics who noted comparisons to Trainspotting: Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph criticized the film saying Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy not only "... goes on to reuse images and ideas not only from Boyle’s scabrous 1996 sensation (Trainspotting), but also the clutch of vastly inferior drug culture films that followed it." Eddie Harrison of The List stated that "... this is most definitely not Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy, but an agonisingly watered-down imitation, a long, languid come-down after the frenetic buzz of Trainspotting." Tim Evans of Sky Movies wrote that "Heydon's no Danny Boyle and, although this shares many superfluous similarities with Trainspotting, it's as dated as warehouse parties and irritating smiley faces."
Read more about this topic: Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy, Release
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