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The movie features a impressive cast, telling the true tale of coach Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his coach, cutting him out and making him a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Stephens appears as the bullish London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film honestly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important story between them is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). This is the kind of script that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very utmost, their relationship never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are often disappointingly truncated. The most important moment is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, Ingle in fact proposes to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character tells a reporter what he’s instructing the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly written (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on film. There is engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

The film screened at the festival and is available in UK and Irish theaters from 9 January.