Giant Review: Naseem Hamed Biopic Starring Pierce Brosnan Lacks the Impact

The movie features a talented cast, telling the real-life tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Yemeni immigrant parents. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and turning him into a blend of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly lacks the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the all-important drama between them is consistently flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, 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 clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly burdened by functional, explanatory lines that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are supposed to be thinking (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you know what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. And, the score is overbearing, at times almost deafening, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key scene is surely when, goaded past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “elder”, the trainer in fact offers to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is shocked and uneasy. In what way is this insanely unwise confrontation going to play out? What will be the outcome? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

This isn’t to imply that there are no some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his local community: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics 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 film depicts this as being worsened by a revealing book that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element evidently adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the blows fail to connect.

Giant screened at the festival and is available in UK and Irish cinemas from January 9.