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The movie features a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly misses the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly burdened by functional, explanatory lines that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of script that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. And, the score is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. A key moment is surely when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the falling out, the film depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that Ingle is supposed to have authored (a plot point evidently modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some engaging content in this film, but the blows don’t land.

Giant screened at the festival and is in British and Irish cinemas from January 9.