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The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, depicting the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the role of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie frankly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his luxurious residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing book that Ingle is allegedly written (a plot point evidently adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly given to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land.

The film screened at the London film festival and is in UK and Irish cinemas from January 9.