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The movie boasts a talented ensemble, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly flat and monotonous. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, explanatory lines that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of script that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your phone. And, the score is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is surely when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the falling out, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his death is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. Some interesting material here, but the blows fail to connect.

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