🔗 Share this article

The movie features a talented ensemble, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial story between them is repeatedly flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by functional, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at seven years old …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. And, the background music is overpowering, sometimes almost deafening, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often 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”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat 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. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on film. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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