Giant Film Analysis: Prince Naseem Biopic Starring Brosnan Lacks the Impact

This film boasts a talented cast, telling the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern migrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his coach, excluding him and making him a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

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

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie frankly misses the Prince’s agility: the fight scenes flow well, but the crucial drama in between is repeatedly flat and one-note. There is no subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The drama is often burdened by functional, 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 age seven …”). It is the kind of script that streaming-TV executives call “second-screen”, making sure you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the movie but also glancing at your phone. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets too excited visiting Warren in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their dynamic never really ignites, and the major boxing moments are frequently disappointingly cut short. A key scene is surely when, provoked beyond endurance in the training facility one day by the boxer as a delusional “old man”, Ingle in fact offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the gym is stunned and uneasy. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally pull his punches? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there are no some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a paedophile, “Punch him in the bollocks”. Amusing too when Hamed squirms at the silly antics the coach makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the falling out, the movie depicts this as being exacerbated by a tell-all publication that Ingle is supposed to have written (a plot point evidently modified from another source), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that Hamed is reportedly given to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on film. Some engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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