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The movie boasts a talented cast, telling the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire youth from Yemeni immigrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major fight scenes are frequently anticlimactically cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually proposes to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. Some interesting material here, but the blows don’t land.

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