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The movie features a talented ensemble, depicting the true story of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire teenager from Yemeni migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to prejudice and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Toby Stephens is the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film frankly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important drama between them is consistently dull and monotonous. There is no subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often burdened by functional, explanatory lines that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the sort of script that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your phone. And, the score is overpowering, at times almost deafening, especially in the moment where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. A key scene is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, the trainer in fact 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 ending? Certainly the champion is going to kill him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character informs a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the movie shows this as being worsened by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element clearly modified from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his death is merely mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on screen. Some engaging content here, but the punches fail to connect.

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