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The movie boasts a impressive cast, telling the real-life tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie frankly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is consistently flat and one-note. There is no nuance or light and shade in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show 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 ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your phone. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very best, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. A key moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character tells a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element clearly modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his death is only mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some engaging content here, but the punches don’t land.

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