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The movie features a impressive ensemble, depicting the true story of coach Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Yemeni immigrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of the prince, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama in between is consistently flat and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at seven years old …”). It is the sort of dialogue that digital producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also checking your phone. And, the score is overpowering, sometimes nearly deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited calling on Warren in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their very utmost, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer actually 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 unfold? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the silly stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to his mentor after his death is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is interesting material here, but the blows don’t land.

Giant was shown at the London film festival and is available in UK and Irish theaters from January 9.