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This film features a talented cast, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. 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 show any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at seven years old …”). It is the kind of script that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times almost deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise confrontation going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly stunts 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 depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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