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This film features a impressive ensemble, telling the true story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie frankly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important story between them is consistently dull and one-note. There is no nuance or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times almost overwhelming, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically truncated. A key moment is surely when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

Giant screened at the festival and is available in UK and Irish cinemas from 9 January.