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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer in fact offers to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely risky confrontation going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point clearly modified from another source), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, 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 theaters from January 9.