Giant Film Analysis: Naseem Hamed Movie Featuring Pierce Brosnan Lacks the Impact

The movie boasts a talented cast, telling the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to prejudice and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, cutting him out and turning him into a blend of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the part of Hamed, and Toby Stephens is the assertive promoter Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the movie honestly misses the fighter’s agility: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the all-important story in between is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to display any depth or much of what might make his role really interesting – even though he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is often lumbered with functional, explanatory dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at seven years old …”). It is the kind of script that digital producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your phone. And, the background music is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited calling on Warren in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their very utmost, their dynamic doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically cut short. A key moment is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to get in the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uneasy. How exactly is this extremely risky confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. The actor elicits humor when Ingle informs a journalist what he’s teaching the kids from his neighborhood: to oppose prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed fidgets at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the rift, the movie depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is supposed to have authored (a plot point clearly modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly imagined final conversation – although the emotional tribute that Hamed is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his passing is only mentioned in the end titles, and not shown on film. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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