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This film boasts a talented cast, telling the true tale of coach Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial story in between is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also checking your phone. And, the background music is overpowering, sometimes almost deafening, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited visiting the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. A key moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely risky standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Or 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 his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element evidently adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

The film screened at the London film festival and is in British and Irish cinemas from 9 January.