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This film boasts a impressive ensemble, depicting the true story of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni immigrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry takes on the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie frankly lacks the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences flow well, but the all-important story in between is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly lumbered with functional, expositional lines that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the sort of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, making sure you know what’s unfolding while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times nearly overwhelming, particularly in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their considerable utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. A key moment is certainly when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, Ingle in fact proposes to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a reporter what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly given to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not shown on film. There is interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

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