🔗 Share this article

The movie boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true story of coach Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also checking your phone. And, the score is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their considerable utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. A key moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “elder”, Ingle actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? What will be the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element clearly modified from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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