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This film boasts a talented cast, depicting the true story of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a cheeky Sheffield teenager from Yemeni migrant parents. Dubbed Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to stand up to racist bullies and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the late 90s. Ingle nurtured his flamboyant arrogance and powerful punches, but after becoming rich, Hamed betrayed his coach, cutting him out and making him a mix of Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose.

Performers and Roles

Pierce Brosnan plays the trainer; Amir El-Masry takes on the role of the prince, and Stephens is the bullish London promoter Warren, who saw the potential that Ingle had uncovered.

Where the Movie Falls Short

However, the film honestly misses the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial drama between them is consistently flat and one-note. It lacks nuance or contrast in the portrayal of the protagonist himself, and El-Masry, an otherwise excellent talent, isn’t given the chance to show any depth or much of what might make his character truly engaging – although he’s clearly been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena.

Dialogue and Music Issues

The story is repeatedly burdened by functional, explanatory lines that inform you exactly what is happening and what we are meant to feel (“You started your career at age seven …”). It is the kind of script that streaming-TV producers call “double-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re viewing the film but also glancing at your device. And, the score is overpowering, sometimes almost overwhelming, especially in the moment where the boxer gets too excited calling on the promoter in his luxurious home.

Acting and Pivotal Scenes

Although the leads do their very best, their dynamic doesn’t quite ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often anticlimactically truncated. The most important scene is surely when, goaded past his limit in the training facility one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, Ingle actually offers to get in the ring and box him. All present in the room is stunned and uncomfortable. How exactly is this extremely risky standoff going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Surely the champion is going to kill him? Alternatively will he sentimentally pull his punches? The resolution remains ambiguous.

Highlights and Humor

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

Storyline and Final Thoughts

Regarding the rift, the film shows this as being exacerbated by a tell-all book that the trainer is allegedly authored (a plot point evidently modified from prior material), and there is an intriguingly imagined last discussion – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is supposed to have given to his mentor after his death is only referenced in the end titles, and not dramatised on film. There is interesting material in this film, but the punches fail to connect.

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