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The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Yemeni migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film honestly misses the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial story in between is consistently flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their very best, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. Some engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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