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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a mix of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the bullish promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama between them is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional dialogue that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, particularly in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited calling on Warren in his luxurious residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly truncated. A key scene is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the ending? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when his character tells a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast 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 plot point clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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