Giant

It’s very much the point of Athale’s screenplay that life was too short for such a grudge after the epic association these men had. By saying so, Giant hoists itself out of sports-biopic ordinariness and becomes really quite moving.

Here is a perfectly respectable – if ragged at the edges – attempt to engage with a sporting story that wove triumph and pride in with regret and disharmony.

It leaves a lot to the audience to figure out about Hamed beyond what’s publicly known, as it’s clearly more interested in Ingle. While far from being a knockout, the film lands enough solid punches to leave a mark.

Despite good performances from El-Masry and Brosnan, this fails to pack the heavyweight knockout punch it sorely needs. Judge’s decision: a narrow loss, on points. 

Some interesting material here, but the punches don’t land.

The leads, at least, give individual scenes a little character.