🔗 Share this article

This film boasts a talented cast, depicting the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film frankly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is consistently flat and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly burdened by functional, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the sort of script that digital executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. The most important scene is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion 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 are no some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character tells a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point evidently modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not shown on film. Some interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

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