Giant has nothing to do with James Dean, even though he comes to mind whenever I see the title, but it tells the rise and rise of boxer “Prince” Naseem Hamed (Amir El-Masry – A Haunting In Venice).
The film gives us a taste of his success with a win in a big fight in 1997, after he’d made the big-time, before going back to 1981, when he was a young boy and looking for something to fill his time. He finds his feet in the ring, with some fancy footwork with which to confuse the opponents, since he enjoys dancing, and boxing becomes a way to fight off racists.
Former boxer Brendan Ingle sees promise in him and trains Hamed over the years on his road to success, although while Pierce Brosnan is Irish, here, he uses the same godawful ‘Oirish’ accent he put on in Mobland. Pur-lease….
Ingle’s also married to Katherine Dow Blyton, as Alma, with the actress having played Gemma Atkinson’s mum in Hollyoaks, and their whole family finding each of them having an entirely different accent!
However, when Hamed first goes in the ring at the age of 12, he gets a load of “Boo”s from the audience… or were they saying “Boo-urns”?
Giant starts off okay, then treads water in Act 2, and settles into a place where the storytelling is quite flat, especially as Ingle and Hamed’s friendship starts to decline, although while Ingle has since passed away, the real Hamed stating “that the film was fictional and did not accurately represent true events, in particular the breakdown of his relationship with Brendan Ingle… According to Hamed he had no involvement or input during the production, only viewing it after completion”.
THAT felt odd. Why wouldn’t he be involved?!
That said, it’s interesting to see boxing promoter Frank Warren is played by Toby Stephens, who went toe-to-toe with Brosnan in the disappointing 2002 Bond film, Die Another Day.
Giant is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 110 minutes
Release date: January 9th 2026
Studio: True Brit Entertainment
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 5/10
Director: Rowan Athale
Producers: Stuart Ford, Mark Lane, Kevin Sampson, Ross Williams
Screenplay: Rowan Athale
Music: Neil Athale
Cast
Brendan Ingle: Pierce Brosnan
Naseem Hamed: Amir El-Masry
John Ingle: Connor Porter
Mikey: Rocco Haynes
Eleasha: Isabelle Bonfrer
Alma Ingle: Katherine Dow Blyton
Vicki Quinn: Olivia Barrowclough
Ricky Beard: Doren John Farmer
Trev: Austin Haynes
Riath Hamed: Arian Nik
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.