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The movie boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true story of coach Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film frankly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no subtlety or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is often burdened by functional, explanatory dialogue that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that digital executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your phone. And, the background music is overbearing, at times almost deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. The most important scene is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, Ingle actually offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the room is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly given to his mentor after his death is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on film. Some engaging content here, but the blows fail to connect.

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