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The movie features a impressive ensemble, telling the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish London promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the movie but also glancing at your phone. And, the background music is overbearing, at times almost overwhelming, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some good moments. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. Some interesting material here, but the punches fail to connect.

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