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This film boasts a talented ensemble, telling the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who guided a brash Yorkshire youth from Yemeni migrant family. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to confront prejudice and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

Yet, the film frankly lacks the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial story in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s clearly been training and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often lumbered with functional, explanatory lines that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). This is the sort of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, ensuring 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 nearly deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his palatial residence.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship never really comes to life, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. 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 offers to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this insanely risky standoff going to play out? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he emotionally 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 gets laughs when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: posing as the “beast from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the rift, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly authored (a story element evidently adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have given to Ingle after his passing is only referenced in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the blows don’t land.

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