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This film boasts a talented cast, telling the real-life tale of coach Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield youth from Yemeni migrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently dull and monotonous. It lacks nuance or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the scene where the boxer gets too excited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their very best, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. The most important scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose bias and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing publication that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element clearly modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not shown on screen. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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