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The movie features a talented cast, depicting the true story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by functional, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times almost deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. A key moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely risky standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the Prince 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 aren’t some good moments. The actor gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all publication that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his death is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

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