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This film features a talented ensemble, telling the true story of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens is the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast 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 role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly truncated. A key moment is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, Ingle in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the room is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element evidently adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. There is engaging content in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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