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This film boasts a impressive cast, depicting the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and making him a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

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

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie frankly lacks the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial story in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). This is the kind of script that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your device. And, the background music is overpowering, at times almost overwhelming, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. A key moment is surely when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, Ingle in fact offers to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly written (a plot point evidently adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly given to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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