Giant Film Analysis: Prince Naseem Biopic Starring Brosnan Misses the Punch

The movie boasts a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Stephens is the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama between them is consistently dull and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the kind of dialogue that digital producers call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also checking your device. And, the score is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where Hamed gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While the leads do their considerable utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. A key moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a misguided “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to get in the ring and box him. All present in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely risky standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous stunts Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his passing is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. There is engaging content in this film, but the blows don’t land.

Giant screened at the festival and is available in British and Irish theaters from January 9.