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This film features a impressive cast, depicting the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly dull and monotonous. There is no nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited visiting Warren in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently anticlimactically truncated. A key scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, the trainer in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all publication that Ingle is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. There is engaging content here, but the punches fail to connect.

Giant was shown at the festival and is available in UK and Irish cinemas from January 9.