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This film features a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Yemeni migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, excluding him and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly misses the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory lines that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the sort of script that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also checking your phone. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently disappointingly cut short. A key scene is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, the trainer in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the early days: posing as the “beast from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is only mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

Giant was shown at the London film festival and is in UK and Irish theaters from 9 January.