🔗 Share this article

This film boasts a impressive cast, telling the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni migrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to prejudice and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the movie frankly misses the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at seven years old …”). It is the sort of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overbearing, at times almost deafening, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited visiting the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is surely when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? 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 reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. There is interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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