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The movie boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true story of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie frankly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial story between them is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently disappointingly cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually proposes to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this insanely risky standoff going to play out? What will be the ending? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply 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 oppose bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly modified from another source), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some engaging content in this film, but the blows don’t land.

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