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The movie boasts a talented ensemble, depicting the true tale of coach Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront racist bullies and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama between them is consistently flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with functional, explanatory lines 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 digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your device. And, the score is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is surely when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character tells a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that Ingle is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly modified from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. There is interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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