The Giant Film Analysis: Prince Naseem Movie Featuring Brosnan Lacks the Impact

This film features a talented cast, depicting the real-life story of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Yorkshire youth from Yemeni migrant parents. Dubbed “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the youngster was coached to stand up to prejudice and molded into a media-friendly world champion in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his showboating confidence and powerful punches, but after achieving wealth, Hamed betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Danny Rose.

Cast and Characters

Brosnan portrays the trainer; El-Masry takes on the part of the prince, and Toby Stephens appears as the assertive promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the goldmine that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the movie honestly misses the Prince’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial story in between is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no nuance or light and shade in the depiction of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise outstanding performer, doesn’t get the chance to show any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – although he’s obviously been working out and looks very plausible in the boxing arena.

Problems with Script and Sound

The story is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, explanatory dialogue that inform you precisely what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“Your journey began your career at seven years old …”). It is the kind of script that streaming-TV executives call “double-screen”, ensuring you know what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. Additionally, the score is overpowering, at times nearly deafening, especially in the scene where the boxer gets overexcited calling on Warren in his luxurious residence.

Performances and Key Moments

While El-Masry and Brosnan do their very utmost, their relationship doesn’t quite comes to life, and the major fight scenes are often anticlimactically truncated. The most important moment is certainly when, provoked past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually offers to step into the ring and box him. All present in the gym is shocked and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely unwise standoff going to unfold? How precisely the outcome? Certainly the Prince is going to defeat him? Or will he sentimentally hold back? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice jabs. Brosnan elicits humor when his character informs a journalist what he’s instructing the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you encounter a offender, “Punch him in the groin”. It’s funny too when the boxer fidgets at the ridiculous antics Ingle makes him do in the early days: acting like the “monster from the East”.

Storyline and Final Thoughts

As for the falling out, the film shows this as being exacerbated by a revealing book that the trainer is supposed to have authored (a story element evidently adapted from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – however the emotional tribute that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his passing is merely referenced in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. Some interesting material in this film, but the punches don’t land.

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