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The movie features a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire youth from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important story between them is repeatedly dull and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the sort of script that digital executives call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. And, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. A key moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. There is engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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