The Giant Review: Prince Naseem Biopic Featuring Pierce Brosnan Misses the Impact

This film features a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of coach Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire teenager from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Stephens is the assertive promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had discovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly lacks the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the all-important story between them is repeatedly dull and one-note. It lacks subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is often burdened by functional, explanatory lines that tell you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). It is the sort of script that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the movie but also glancing at your device. And, the background music is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. A key scene is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a delusional “elder”, Ingle in fact proposes to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when his character tells a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to oppose bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element evidently modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have given to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

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