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The movie boasts a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of coach Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the bullish promoter Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. There is no nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also glancing at your device. And, the score is overbearing, at times almost overwhelming, especially in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often disappointingly truncated. A key moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise confrontation going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. The actor elicits humor when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element evidently modified from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not shown on film. There is engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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