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This film boasts a talented cast, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is consistently flat and one-note. There is no nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that inform you exactly 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 know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the score is overbearing, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all publication that Ingle is allegedly authored (a plot point evidently adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on film. There is engaging content here, but the punches fail to connect.

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