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This film boasts a impressive cast, telling the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Ingle, who mentored a brash Sheffield youth from Middle Eastern immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront racist bullies and transformed into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed turned against his mentor, cutting him out and making him a blend of Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Pierce Brosnan portrays the trainer; Amir El-Masry embodies the part of the prince, and Stephens is the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that the coach had uncovered.

Film’s Shortcomings

However, the film honestly misses the fighter’s agility: the boxing sequences run smoothly, but the crucial drama in between is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or light and shade in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise excellent talent, doesn’t get the opportunity to show any subtlety or much of what might make his character truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been training and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The drama is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that tell you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your boxing journey at age seven …”). It is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re viewing the movie but also checking your device. And, the background music is overbearing, sometimes almost deafening, particularly in the moment where Hamed gets overexcited visiting the promoter in his palatial home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

While the leads do their considerable best, their relationship doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are frequently anticlimactically truncated. The most important moment is surely when, provoked past his limit in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually proposes to step into the ring and fight him. All present in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this insanely unwise confrontation going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally hold back? It’s not clear.

Bright Spots and Comedy

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor gets laughs when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the kids from his neighborhood: to reject prejudice and when you meet a paedophile, “Hit them in the bollocks”. Amusing too when the boxer squirms at the silly antics Ingle makes him do in the beginning: acting like the “monster from the Middle East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the film shows this as being worsened by a revealing publication that the trainer is allegedly written (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an interestingly conceived last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have paid to his mentor after his death is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not shown on screen. Some engaging content here, but the punches don’t land.

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