Giant (15)

In 1981 Sheffield, Yemeni shop owner Caira Hamed enrols her three boys at St Thomas' Boys and Girls Club boxing gym and trainer Brendan Ingle gravitates towards the youngest, seven-year old Naseem. The tyke blossoms and Brendan stokes his protege's self-belief to prepare him for glory inside the ring: Boxing promoter Frank Warren enthusiastically hitches his wagon to Naseem and Brendan and divisions appear in professional relationships.

LondonNet Film Review

Giant (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Sylvester Stallone is one of the executive producers of writer-director Rowan Athale’s lightweight biographical drama about the rise of Prince Naseem Hamed, glimpsed though the eyes of the boxer’s garrulous trainer, Dublin-born former professional fighter Brendan Ingle. He ran the St Thomas’ Boys and Girls Club boxing gym in the Wincobank neighbourhood of Sheffield and identified Naseem’s potential at a tender age but was estranged from the outspoken brawler at the time of his death in 2018…

Athale’s picture rewinds to the mean streets of 1981 Sheffield where a rising tide of racism impacts Yemeni shop owner Caira Hamed (Elika Ashoori). She enrols her three boys at the gym and Brendan (Pierce Brosnan) gravitates towards the youngest, seven-year old Naseem (Ghaith Saleh), who is already straddling the thin line separating self-confidence and arrogance. Naseem blossoms (played in later years by Ali Saleh and eventually Amir El-Masry) and Brendan stokes his protege’s self-belief to prepare him for glory inside the ring: “If you climb close enough to the sun, you’ll cast the shadow of a giant.”

A 1994 bout against Vincenzo Belcastro on home turf at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena secures the European bantamweight title and Frank Warren (Toby Stephens) enthusiastically hitches his wagon to Naseem and Brendan. The boxing promoter recognises the sport’s audience is changing and wants to market Naseem to boys “who want the swagger… and the razzmatazz”.

Giant is a robust and conventional sporting biopic that venerates Brendan’s role, especially when it comes to moulding young minds at the gym. Brendan tells a journalist (Olivia Barrowclough) his facility is a vital community resource that teaches kids life lessons and provides a healthy focus for their frustrations. Brosnan exudes warmth and resilience as the inspirational mentor, who is blinkered to the growing emotional divide to his star talent.

Brendan’s wife (Katherine Dow Blyton) identifies the warning signs of a repeat of a previous breakdown in communication: “Same story, different actors,” she quietly observes. El-Masry mimics Naseem’s exuberant physicality with aplomb and is in impressive shape for action sequences but Athale’s script doesn’t delve deeply into the psychological meat of the surrogate father-son dynamic. Consequently, the actor isn’t stretched beyond occasional blow-ups. Dramatic licence in the closing act attempts to paper over these visible cracks.

Archive footage and photographs embedded in the end credits attest how closely filmmakers have recreated milestones in Brendan and Naseem’s professional partnership. Athale ducks and dives in the opening minutes with a stylish black and white slow-motion sequence that nods to his cinematic inspirations (Raging Bull, Rocky). Those two Oscar-winning heavyweights are far beyond the reach of Giant’s energetic jabs but Athale’s modest picture lands sufficient body blows to stay on its feet until the final bell tolls.

– Kim Hu