Giant (15)
Directed by Rowan Athale
★★★★☆

THIS film charts the remarkable rise and fall of British Yemeni boxer, Prince Naseem “Naz” Hamed, and his relationship with Irish trainer Brendan Ingle, as they took the boxing world by storm.  

Written and directed by Rowan Athale, this funny yet heartbreaking drama shows how Ingle (Pierce Brosnan) discovered Naseem Hamed, a cheeky and cocky seven-year-old (a scene-stealing Ghaith Saleh) in 1981 in Sheffield and took him under his wing at his gym, and trained him for 17 years.

The film pulls no punches in portraying the racism and Islamophobia that Naz faced from an early age in ’80s and ’90s Britain. It was brutal, but Ingle tells him to embrace it as it will make him stronger. He kept telling him how he could be the next world champion, earning around £40 million, even though they were the only ones that believed it. 

While his extreme confidence, cockiness and bravado seemed cute at seven and as a tween, that was no longer the case when he turned 18. His arrogance and showboating were polarising. 

Athale has described Giant as Billy Elliot meets Rocky and, coincidentally, Sylvester Stallone is one of the film’s executive producers. Both Brosnan and Amir El-Masry, who plays the young adult Naz, deliver knockout performances. Brosnan’s performance is totally transformative while El-Masry captures Prince Naseem’s swagger and hubris perfectly. He is truly impressive in the ring. The fight scenes are electrifying. 

The film examines how wealth and fame can corrupt. As Naz’s career takes off he credits boxing promoter Frank Warren (Toby Stephens) and Allah for his success, while sidelining Ingle, who had been a father figure to him. Their relationship slowly deteriorates, ending in a bitter feud, as Ingle felt hurt and betrayed by his protege for refusing to acknowledge the key role he had played in turning him into a boxing champion. 

The film also asks whether Ingle was to blame for fuelling Naz’s egotistical self-belief from a young age resulting in this obnoxious and divisive figure. 

Both highly entertaining and heart-wrenching, Giant is a reminder of what a trailblazer Prince Naseem Hamed was as Britain’s first Muslim boxing star. It also pays tribute to the much-loved Ingle who was considered a legend in Sheffield and was revered as a first-class boxing trainer, having trained four world champions.

In cinemas January 9.