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The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, telling the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the movie frankly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important drama between them 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, isn’t given the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, explanatory dialogue that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. And, the score is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited visiting Warren in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major fight scenes are frequently disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle in fact proposes to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a plot point evidently modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly given to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised 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 UK and Irish cinemas from January 9.