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This film boasts a talented cast, depicting the true story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield youth from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Stephens is the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial story in between is consistently dull and one-note. There is no subtlety or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by functional, explanatory lines that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very best, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key moment is surely when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. The actor gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s instructing 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 early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element evidently adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some interesting material here, but the blows fail to connect.

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