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This film features a talented ensemble, telling the true story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni immigrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie honestly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly dull and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your device. And, the background music is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? What will be the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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