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This film features a impressive cast, telling the real-life story of coach Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer betrayed his mentor, excluding him and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film honestly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial story in between is consistently flat and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the sort of script that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the score is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very best, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. A key scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely risky confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively 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. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a plot point evidently modified from another source), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – however the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the blows don’t land.

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