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This film boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the all-important drama between them is repeatedly flat and one-note. It lacks subtlety or light and shade 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 role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very best, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often disappointingly truncated. A key scene is surely when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, Ingle in fact offers to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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