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The movie boasts a talented ensemble, telling the real-life story of coach Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional dialogue that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the sort of script that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically truncated. The most important scene is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, Ingle in fact offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. There is engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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