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The movie boasts a talented cast, telling the true story of coach Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire teenager from Yemeni immigrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the fighter was taught to confront prejudice and molded into a celebrity world champion in the 1990s. The trainer cultivated his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, Hamed turned against his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens is the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who saw the goldmine that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial story between them is repeatedly flat and one-note. There is no nuance or contrast in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – although he’s obviously been training and appears convincing in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is often lumbered with utilitarian, expositional dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). It is the sort of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the movie but also checking your phone. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times nearly overwhelming, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on Warren in his palatial home.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. The most important moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a misguided “elder”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the room is shocked and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely unwise standoff going to unfold? What will be the outcome? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to reject prejudice and when you encounter a offender, “Hit them in the bollocks”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the early days: posing as the “monster from the East”.

Plot and Conclusion

As for the rift, the film shows this as being worsened by a tell-all book that Ingle is allegedly written (a story element evidently adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined final conversation – however the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on screen. There is engaging content here, but the blows don’t land.

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