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The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, depicting the true tale of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish London promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie frankly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your device. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable utmost, their relationship never really ignites, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. The most important scene is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle 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”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element evidently adapted from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on screen. Some engaging content here, but the punches don’t land.

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