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The movie features a talented ensemble, telling the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly misses the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory lines that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your phone. And, the score is overbearing, at times nearly overwhelming, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very best, their relationship never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, Ingle in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the room is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor elicits humor when his character tells a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to reject prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly written (a story element evidently modified from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. There is engaging content here, but the blows fail to connect.

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