Inspired by the real-life story of Prince Naseem “Naz” Hamed, a British-Yemeni boxer, and his journey from humble beginnings to becoming a world champion and his training under Brendan Ingle, who played a crucial role in his success.

Prince Naseem Hamed was one of Britain’s most distinctive boxers of the last 30 years, a fighter whose speed, flair and showmanship made him impossible to ignore at the height of his fame. ‘Giant’, directed by Rowan Athale, gives him the biopic treatment, telling his story largely through his long relationship with trainer Brendan Ingle, who coached him from the age of seven through to becoming world champion. Amir El-Masry plays the adult Hamed, with Pierce Brosnan as Ingle, and the film is less as a conventional sports rise and fall story and more an exploration of how Hamed and Ingle’s dynamic changed as he got older and became more and more successful.

There’s a very recognisable British sensibility running through the film, particularly in its humour and its working class setting in Sheffield. You can feel the influence of films like ‘Brassed Off’, ‘The Full Monty’ (also Sheffield set!) and ‘East Is East’ in the way it balances warmth, comedy and grit, contrasting Hamed’s extraordinary talent and the glamour of top level Boxing with the everyday realities of the Sheffield gym where it all began. That tone and humour gives the film some balance, even when its affection for Hamed is obvious.

Amir El-Masry convincingly captures both Hamed’s undeniable talent and his growing cockiness, selling the confidence that made him a star while also hinting at the arrogance that would later isolate him. Pierce Brosnan, meanwhile, is as good as he’s been in years as Brendan Ingle, playing him as patient, principled and quietly wounded, particularly as he begins to realise that Hamed is drifting away from him just as success arrives. The film charts Hamed’s rapid rise to world champion clearly, while also showing how that same success, and his hunger for individual glory, gradually sidelines the man who helped get him there.

The emotional high point comes late on, in a reconciliation scene played out as a dream sequence, which risks sentimentality but ultimately earns its place. It’s handled with restraint, allowing El-Masry and Brosnan to produce some of their best work, and it brings the film back to its core idea that behind the bravado and headlines was a relationship built on trust and belief that was foolishly and naively ended prematurely. ‘Giant’ may not dig into every contradiction of its subject, but it offers a warm, engaging portrait of a remarkable talent, and of the bond that shaped him, even as it strained under the weight of success.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Rowan Athale

Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan, Toby Stephens, Katherine Dow Blyton, Olivia Barrowclough, Elika Ashoori, Austin Haynes, Rocco Haynes, Arian Nik, Ali Saleh and Ghaith Saleh

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt26452616/