🔗 Share this article

The movie features a talented cast, telling the real-life story of coach Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film frankly misses the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital producers call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. And, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very best, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major boxing moments are frequently disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is surely when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a plot point evidently adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly paid to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material here, but the blows don’t land.

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