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This film features a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of coach Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his mentor, excluding him and making him a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the assertive London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks nuance or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional lines that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times almost deafening, especially in the scene where the boxer gets too excited visiting Warren in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. A key moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the falling out, the film shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point evidently adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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