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The movie boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of dialogue that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times almost deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their considerable utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major fight scenes are often anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all 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 heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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