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The movie features a impressive cast, depicting the real-life tale of coach Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie frankly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the all-important drama in between is consistently dull and monotonous. There is no nuance or light and shade in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with functional, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your device. And, the background music is overbearing, at times almost overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his luxurious home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their considerable best, their relationship never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, Ingle actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to play out? What will be the outcome? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly written (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not shown on screen. There is engaging content here, but the punches fail to connect.

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