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The movie boasts a impressive cast, telling the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly misses the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial drama between them is repeatedly flat and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). This is the sort of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited visiting Warren in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable utmost, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “elder”, the trainer actually offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the film shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that Ingle is supposed to have written (a story element evidently adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material here, but the blows don’t land.

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