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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the true story of coach Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is consistently dull and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you exactly what is happening 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 producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also checking your device. And, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited visiting the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very best, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major fight scenes are frequently disappointingly truncated. A key scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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