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This film features a talented cast, depicting the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

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

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by functional, expositional lines that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also glancing at your device. And, the score is overbearing, at times almost deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic never really ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some good moments. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – however the emotional tribute that Hamed is reportedly paid to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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