🔗 Share this article

The movie boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly lacks the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional dialogue that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the kind of script that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited visiting the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the major fight scenes are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important moment is surely when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have given to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some engaging content here, but the punches don’t land.

The film was shown at the London film festival and is in British and Irish theaters from January 9.