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

The movie boasts a talented cast, telling the true story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield teenager from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important drama in between is repeatedly dull and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often burdened by utilitarian, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the sort of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. And, the score is overpowering, at times almost deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their very best, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major fight scenes are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and box him. All present in the room is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely unwise confrontation going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some good moments. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. Amusing 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

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all publication that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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