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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the true story of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly flat and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional lines that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their considerable utmost, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely unwise 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.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character tells a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – however the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his death is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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