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The movie boasts a talented ensemble, telling the true story of coach Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his coach, excluding him and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive London promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly flat and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional dialogue that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your device. And, the score is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. A key scene is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally 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 Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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