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This film features a impressive cast, depicting the real-life tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his showboating arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his mentor, excluding him and turning him into a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the role of the prince, and Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama between them is consistently flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or contrast in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at age seven …”). This is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times almost deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very best, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. The most important moment is surely when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by the boxer as a misguided “old man”, Ingle actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Surely the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle informs a reporter what he’s teaching the kids from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the silly stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the movie shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that Hamed is supposed to have paid to Ingle after his death is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on film. There is interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

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