🔗 Share this article The Giant Film Analysis: Naseem Hamed Biopic Starring Pierce Brosnan Misses the Punch The movie features a talented ensemble, depicting the true tale of Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, who guided a brash Sheffield youth from Yemeni immigrant family. Known as Naseem Hamed, the youngster was taught to confront prejudice and transformed into a celebrity titleholder in the 1990s. Ingle cultivated his flamboyant arrogance and lethal fists, but after becoming rich, the boxer turned against his mentor, excluding him and making him a mix of John Falstaff and Broadway Danny Rose. Performers and Roles Pierce Brosnan portrays Ingle; El-Masry embodies the role of Hamed, and Stephens appears as the assertive London promoter Frank Warren, who recognized the potential that Ingle had uncovered. Film’s Shortcomings However, the film honestly lacks the fighter’s fancy footwork: the boxing sequences flow well, but the crucial story between them is repeatedly flat and monotonous. There is no subtlety or contrast in the portrayal of Hamed himself, and the actor, an otherwise outstanding performer, isn’t given the opportunity to display any subtlety or much of what might make his role truly engaging – even though he’s obviously been working out and appears convincing in the boxing arena. Dialogue and Music Issues The drama is repeatedly burdened by utilitarian, expositional dialogue that inform you exactly what is going on and what we are supposed to be thinking (“Your journey began your boxing journey at age seven …”). This is the kind of dialogue that streaming-TV producers call “second-screen”, ensuring you understand what’s going on while you’re watching the film but also checking your device. Additionally, the background music is overpowering, at times almost deafening, particularly in the scene where Hamed gets overexcited visiting Warren in his palatial residence. Performances and Key Moments Although El-Masry and Brosnan do their considerable best, their relationship never really ignites, and the big set-piece boxing moments are often anticlimactically cut short. The most important scene is surely when, goaded beyond endurance in the gym one day by Hamed as a delusional “old man”, the trainer in fact proposes to get in the ring and fight him. All present in the gym is stunned and uncomfortable. In what way is this insanely risky standoff going to unfold? How precisely the ending? Certainly the Prince is going to kill him? Alternatively will he emotionally pull his punches? It’s not clear. Bright Spots and Comedy This isn’t to imply that there aren’t some nice jabs. The actor elicits humor when Ingle tells a journalist what he’s teaching the youths from his neighborhood: to reject bias and when you meet a offender, “Hit them in the groin”. It’s funny too when Hamed squirms at the ridiculous stunts the coach makes him do in the beginning: posing as the “beast from the East”. Plot and Conclusion Regarding the falling out, the film depicts this as being worsened by a revealing publication that Ingle is supposed to have authored (a plot point clearly adapted from another source), and there is an intriguingly conceived final conversation – although the heartfelt homage that the boxer is reportedly paid to his mentor after his passing is merely mentioned in the closing credits, and not dramatised on screen. There is engaging content in this film, but the punches don’t land. Giant was shown at the London film festival and is in British and Irish cinemas from 9 January.