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This film boasts a talented ensemble, telling the true tale of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie frankly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama in between is consistently dull and monotonous. There is no nuance or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by functional, explanatory lines that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your phone. And, the score is overbearing, at times nearly overwhelming, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their very best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently disappointingly truncated. A key scene is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the room is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element evidently modified from another source), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on screen. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

Giant was shown at the festival and is available in UK and Irish theaters from 9 January.