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This film features a impressive ensemble, depicting the real-life tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the movie honestly misses the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial story in between is consistently flat and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – even though he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also checking your phone. Additionally, the score is overbearing, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are frequently disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle in fact offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to play out? What will be the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to oppose bias and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly authored (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

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