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The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, depicting the real-life tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront racist bullies and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences 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 portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly burdened by functional, expositional dialogue that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at age seven …”). This is the kind of script that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also checking your phone. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are frequently disappointingly truncated. The most important scene is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. All present in the room is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this insanely unwise confrontation going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a plot point clearly adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. Some engaging content here, but the punches fail to connect.

Giant was shown at the festival and is in British and Irish theaters from 9 January.