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The movie boasts a talented cast, depicting the true story of Irish boxing trainer 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 molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

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

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial drama in between is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with functional, expositional dialogue that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). It is the sort of script that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. And, the background music is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited visiting the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a revealing book that Ingle is supposed to have authored (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

Giant was shown at the festival and is available in UK and Irish cinemas from 9 January.