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This film boasts a talented ensemble, telling the true story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive London promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial story between them is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of script that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently disappointingly cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and box him. All present in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being worsened by a revealing book that Ingle is supposed to have written (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows don’t land.

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