🔗 Share this article

This film features a talented cast, depicting the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film frankly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the kind of script that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets too excited visiting the promoter in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently disappointingly cut short. A key moment is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, Ingle actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely risky standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a story element clearly modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his death is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material here, but the punches fail to connect.

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