The Giant Review: Prince Naseem Biopic Featuring Brosnan Lacks the Impact

The movie boasts a impressive cast, depicting the true tale of coach Brendan Ingle, who mentored a brash Yorkshire youth from Middle Eastern migrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the fighter was coached to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. The trainer nurtured his showboating confidence and lethal fists, but after achieving wealth, the boxer betrayed his mentor, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan plays Ingle; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the bullish promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had discovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie frankly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the fight scenes run smoothly, but the crucial story between them is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no subtlety or light and shade in the depiction of Hamed himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the chance to display any depth or much of what might make his character really interesting – although he’s clearly been working out and looks very plausible in the ring.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that tell you precisely what is going on and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s unfolding while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overbearing, at times nearly deafening, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on the promoter in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

Although the leads do their very utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the major fight scenes are often disappointingly cut short. A key scene is certainly when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer actually proposes to step into the ring and box him. Everyone in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely unwise standoff going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to defeat him? Alternatively will he sentimentally hold back? It’s not clear.

Highlights and Humor

This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan gets laughs when Ingle tells a reporter what he’s instructing the kids from his local community: to oppose bias and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous antics the coach makes him do in the early days: acting like the “beast from the Middle East”.

Plot and Conclusion

Regarding the falling out, the film depicts this as being worsened by a tell-all book that the trainer is supposed to have written (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is reportedly paid to Ingle after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some engaging content in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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