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The movie boasts a talented cast, telling the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish London promoter Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial story between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the depiction 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 really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times almost deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited visiting Warren in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are often disappointingly truncated. A key scene is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly given to his mentor after his death is only mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is engaging content here, but the blows fail to connect.

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