🔗 Share this article

This film boasts a talented ensemble, depicting the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the assertive London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance 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 boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly burdened by functional, explanatory dialogue that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). This is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited visiting the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the major fight scenes are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element evidently modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have given to his mentor after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. Some engaging content here, but the punches don’t land.

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