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The movie boasts a talented cast, depicting the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the 1990s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie frankly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is consistently dull and monotonous. It lacks subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory lines that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of script that digital producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, particularly in the moment where the boxer gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are frequently disappointingly cut short. The most important scene is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to play out? What will be the ending? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character tells a reporter what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element clearly adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly given to Ingle after his death is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on film. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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