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This film features a impressive cast, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Stephens is the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important story between them is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by functional, explanatory lines that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of script that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. The most important scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly authored (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

Giant screened at the London film festival and is available in British and Irish cinemas from 9 January.