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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni migrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film frankly misses the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with functional, explanatory dialogue that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also checking your phone. And, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their considerable utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, Ingle in fact offers to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this insanely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character tells a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material here, but the punches fail to connect.

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