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The movie boasts a talented ensemble, telling the real-life story of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Film’s Shortcomings

Yet, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial story in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – even though he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory lines that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their very best, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often anticlimactically truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, Ingle in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that the trainer is allegedly authored (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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