The Giant Review: Prince Naseem Movie Starring Brosnan Lacks the Impact

The movie boasts a impressive ensemble, telling the real-life tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity world champion in the late 90s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance 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

Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial story in between is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also checking your device. And, the score is overbearing, sometimes nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically truncated. The most important moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, the trainer in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to play out? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that the trainer is supposed to have written (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – however the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on film. There is engaging content here, but the punches don’t land.

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