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This film boasts a talented cast, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to prejudice and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film honestly misses the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. There is no nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times almost deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very best, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently disappointingly truncated. A key scene is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle informs a reporter what he’s instructing the youths from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly given to his mentor after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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