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The movie features a talented cast, telling the true story of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his coach, excluding him and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly lacks the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by functional, expositional dialogue that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). It is the sort of script that digital executives call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, particularly in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly truncated. A key moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, Ingle in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? What will be the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point evidently modified from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material here, but the blows fail to connect.

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