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This film features a impressive cast, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and molded into a media-friendly titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan plays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish London promoter Warren, who recognized the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly lacks the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial drama in between is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with functional, expositional dialogue that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at seven years old …”). It is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times almost overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his luxurious residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their considerable best, their relationship never really comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene 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 step into the ring and box him. All present in the room is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the ending? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there are no some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element evidently adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his death is merely referenced in the end titles, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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