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The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, telling the true story of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. There is no nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at seven years old …”). It is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your device. And, the background music is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their considerable utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major boxing moments are frequently disappointingly cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, the trainer actually proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the Prince 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 aren’t some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when Ingle informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly authored (a plot point clearly modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not shown on film. There is interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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