🔗 Share this article

The movie features a impressive cast, telling the true story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to racist bullies and molded into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama between them is consistently dull and one-note. 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 chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is often lumbered with functional, explanatory dialogue that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently disappointingly cut short. The most important moment is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “elder”, the trainer in fact proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the room is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. Some interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

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