🔗 Share this article

This film features a talented ensemble, telling the real-life tale of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his coach, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

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

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important story in between is consistently dull and monotonous. There is no nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his character really interesting – even though he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly lumbered with utilitarian, expositional lines that inform you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the kind of dialogue that digital executives call “double-screen”, making sure you understand what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their considerable best, their dynamic never really comes to life, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often disappointingly cut short. The most important scene is surely when, provoked beyond endurance in the gym one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, the trainer actually offers to step into the ring and fight him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely 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? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his local community: to oppose bias and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the film shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing publication that Ingle is allegedly written (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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