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This film features a impressive ensemble, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie frankly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial story between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. And, the score is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their considerable utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the room is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his death is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material here, but the blows don’t land.

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