Powerful performers punch above their weight in this otherwise by-the-book boxing drama. Based on the record-setting back-to-back Olympic victories—in 2012 and 2016—of professional boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, who came from a poor background in Flint, Michigan, to win gold medals in London and Rio de Janeiro, it’s a familiar tale of success against the odds that takes some interesting turns as a depiction of a woman competing in a stereotypically male sport.
Ultimately, though, what made great material for a 90-minute documentary (2015’s T-Rex) doesn’t organically stretch to a 109-minute feature; thankfully, director Rachel Morrison resists the urge to confect extraneous drama, relying instead on its two excellent leads to carry the story to the last round.
Claressa’s story starts in 2006; we see a young girl running through a rundown neighborhood in wind and snow to a boxing gym on the other side of town. She is used to rejection (“We don’t train no girls”), but one of the volunteers takes pity on her and takes her through her paces. This is Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry), a fatherly former boxer whose domestic life is in stark contrast to Claressa’s: Jason lives in a well-appointed suburban home with his wife, while Claressa sleeps three-to-a-bed with her siblings, eating cereal with water because her flaky but sympathetic single mother is so lax with groceries. Claressa’s motivation for fighting is set up pretty clearly from the get-go; as one character notes, “She’s probably trying to get away from that messed-up house.”
Five years later, Jason is training with Claressa (Ryan Destiny) on a regular basis, having earned the respect of the boys at the gym. “You represent out there,” says one. “You show ’em how we do it in Flint.” Jason is aware that she doesn’t have the reach of a naturally gifted boxer (the nickname “T-Rex” actually refers to her short arms) but knows that she has something potentially more powerful, the fire inside that gives the film its title. “I want you to take all that pain,” he tells her, “and turn it into something good.” The chance to showcase that talent comes along when Claressa gets a chance to try out at the Olympic trials, which Jason encourages her to attend, even though he can’t go himself. “You don’t get many chances like this,” he says. “And when you do, you go all the way.”
By now, we’re on the fast track to the games that changed Claressa’s life, and though we know what will happen when she gets there, Morrison makes the journey eventful, focusing on Claressa as a likeably unruly heroine, balking at Jason’s strict diet in the school cafeteria (broccoli and fish) and his well-meaning interference in her love life (“No datin’ in the gym”). The elephant in the room—should women box?—is never ignored and throws up some interesting perspectives, and neither is Claressa’s pent-up rage, which gets her into trouble long before media training can be arranged.
Though the fight scenes are convincing and enthusiastically staged, arguably the best part of the movie comes after Claressa’s first triumph. The comedown after the euphoria is as brutal as any fight, and a scene in which she tries to pawn her first gold medal stings more than any punch. There are collateral issues too, involving the indignities of sponsorship and the inequalities of women’s pay, which certainly weren’t in the Million Dollar Baby playbook.
Key to the film’s success is the one-two punch of Destiny and Henry, an effortlessly charismatic pairing that hurts the film whenever one or the other is off the screen, as when Claressa goes to China by herself. The film may be about Claressa’s often beleaguered journey, but, as subtle as Barry Jenkins’ script tries to be about it, her success was the result of a joint endeavor. Though it follows an otherwise familiar path, The Fire Inside is the rare boxing movie that sees past the obvious allegory of two human beings with their dukes up to present its subject as a team sport.
Title: The Fire Inside
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
Director: Rachel Morrison
Screenwriter: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry, Oluniké Adeliyi, De’Adre Aziza
Running time: 1 hr 49 mins
Release date: 25 December 2024
