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This film features a talented ensemble, depicting the true story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. There is no nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display 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 ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets too excited visiting Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently disappointingly truncated. The most important scene is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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