By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
There have been plenty of boxing movies that punch hard with emotional ferocity, and while this scratches the surface, it doesn’t quite resonate like others before it. “The Fire Inside” is based on the compelling true story of Olympic boxer Claressa Shields. Slow pacing, missed opportunities, and mediocre acting minimize an otherwise riveting story.
Growing up in Flint, Michigan with three siblings and a single mother, who struggles to maintain suitable living conditions, is not an easy life for Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny). Boxing became an outlet for her that evolved into something much more. Her coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry) takes her under his wing, training Claressa to become one of the best boxers in the world.
At only 17 years old, Claressa earns a spot on the 2012 US Olympic team in London. Her goals are straightforward, coming home with the gold medal and achieving enough sponsorships to properly care for herself and her family. Unfortunately, the sport she chose does not look too kindly on women. She must take her fight outside the ring if she wants to succeed in bringing equal pay to women in boxing.
Rachel Morrison (“Mudbound”) is an Oscar nominated cinematographer making her directorial debut with “The Fire Inside.” Unfortunately, she makes a series of rookie mistakes that derail an intriguing story from being the emotional powerhouse it wants to be. For starters, the timeline transitions are poorly executed, skipping over important story building and character developing opportunities to get to the Olympic stage much too soon. Without viewers getting to see more of the bond being built between coach and athlete over those early years, emotional investment in the main character’s outcomes is lost.
Then Morrison bogs the pacing of the film down by incorporating an inconsequential teenage romance that is devoid of life. She also makes the odd choice to remove the father figure almost completely from the film, when in reality it was Claressa’s dad who got her into boxing in the first place. This not only distorts the facts of the actual story, but it also presents a huge, missed opportunity to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience. Despite these glaring missteps, Morrison still brings her cinematography background to bear with solid camera work, especially during the in-the-ring action. She also cleverly shows the Flint water tower in the background and purposefully shows tap water usage throughout the movie to acknowledge Flint’s unsavory recent water crisis. Along with the still inspirational story, Rachel sneaks by with a watchable production.
This is Ryan Destiny’s first significant film role, and she adequately holds her own in the starring role. The young actress is definitely a bit green around the edges when it comes to evoking emotion other than anger, but she nails the hard stare of a boxer down quite well. Still, the lack of believable connectivity with the other characters relegates her performance into the realm of forgettability.
Brian Tyree Henry was not the first choice to play the supporting role of the main character’s coach, it was actually Ice Cube. Henry typically brings the comic relief, but he did receive his first Oscar nomination in 2023 for the drama “Causeway,” so he has proven he can excel in a dramatic role. However, because of the lack of on-screen chemistry with Destiny, his performance becomes rather bland.
This is certainly a true story everyone should become familiar with, but the direction disappoints, leaving viewers interested yet uninspired. “The Fire Inside” is a clear case of missed opportunities, failing to land that emotional gut punch the audience so desperately craves in a movie such as this. You’ll have a better experience watching this one on a smaller screen from the comfort of home.
This movie earns:
