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The movie boasts a talented ensemble, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important story between them is consistently flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly burdened by functional, expositional dialogue that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It 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 checking your device. And, the background music is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle in fact proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? What will be the outcome? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is supposed to have written (a story element evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material here, but the blows fail to connect.

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