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This film boasts a talented ensemble, telling the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the movie honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by functional, expositional lines that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at seven years old …”). It is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your phone. And, the score is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very best, their relationship never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. A key scene is surely when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely unwise standoff going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor gets laughs when his character tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

The film was shown at the London film festival and is in UK and Irish cinemas from January 9.