The Giant Review: Prince Naseem Biopic Starring Brosnan Lacks the Punch

The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial story in between is consistently flat and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, explanatory lines that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of script that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also checking your phone. And, the background music is overbearing, at times almost overwhelming, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets too excited visiting the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major fight scenes are frequently anticlimactically truncated. A key moment is certainly when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Or will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to oppose bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the film depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is allegedly written (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – however the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have given to his mentor after his death is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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