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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, 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.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film frankly lacks the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the all-important drama between them is consistently dull and one-note. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your device. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently disappointingly truncated. The most important scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this insanely unwise confrontation going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when his character tells a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the blows don’t land.

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