The Fire Inside movie review and movie summary (2024)

One of the most magnetic duos on screen this year is not a romantic couple or a pair of enemies-to-friends, but a coach and mentor and a young athlete. “The Fire Inside” is based on the true story of boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny), a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and her trainer, Jason Crutchfield (Bryan Tyree Henry). The warmth and trust between them radiates from the screen, in stark contrast to the ferocity of the fight scenes and the bleakness of Shield’s life at home with his mother, first an addict and later disabled.

Cinematographer-turned-first-time director Rachel Morrison has a keen sense of conveying the idiosyncrasies of society, from the instability of Shields’ home with his mother and younger siblings to the warmth and comfort of Crutchfield’s home with his wife and family. Crutchfield is a volunteer trainer at the gym. His day job is working for the cable company and we see him on top of tall ladders working on the wires. Beyond the relationship between Crutchfield and Shields and the many opportunities Shields has to prove all she can do, this film takes on the challenges outside the ring, including the disappointment that even winning a gold medal at the Olympics doesn’t create the kind of opportunities given to other athletes.

The film opens with an overhead shot of a poor neighborhood in Flint, Michigan. It’s just before dawn and it’s snowing lightly. The streets are deserted, except for a small runner, maybe 8 years old. She runs to the gym where the boxing classes are all boys. “No cheerleading practice up here,” one of the boys in the ring scoffs after her.

At first, Crutchfield says he won’t train her, though he will let her see and use the equipment. But there is something about her determination that piques his interest. He gives her a fighting chance and sees that she responds quickly to his suggestions on how to improve. He can also see that she flinches and backs away when he tries to hug her. His response, in this first meeting and throughout their relationship, is a heartfelt mixture of encouragement, guidance, respect and credibility. Henry continues to show his versatility and endless charisma in the role. As Crutchfield must maintain a balance between pushing her, protecting her and supporting her, respecting her boundaries as she grows up, Henry is always exquisitely sensitive to Destiny as a scene partner. It’s clear they’re completely comfortable with each other, which makes it feel authentic when he coaxes a smile, a brief scene of amiable banter, and later a fierce disagreement. Shields are often sour, usually reserved. This means that in the few scenes where she opens up, tells a girlfriend about being abused as a child, and holds her sister’s baby, Destiny’s performance is particularly moving.

There’s a lovely moment where Shields goes to the grocery store to buy diapers for his nephew and looks at a display of Wheaties cereal. The Breakfast of Champions features star athletes on the boxes, but she doesn’t get any big money offers. She can pay her mother’s utility bills, but the endorsements she was hoping for haven’t arrived. Companies like female athletes from the beautiful sports like beach volleyball, where the women jump around in bikinis. They are not comfortable with sports where women punch other women in the face. Shields likes to talk about how much she loves to hit people and make them cry, which doesn’t fit the company’s messaging. “You seem like a bully,” a rep tells her, advising her to wear lip gloss and girly clothes. “I won that gold medal by being me,” Shields says. She points out that the men on the US boxing team receive three times more scholarships than the women. She can fight with words as well as fists.

Shields’ story is inspiring, beyond the training montage, the matches and the medals and the pep talks from Crutchfield. The film has a spacious generosity to all its characters, even Shields’ parents, that reflects her commitment to her family and community as deeply as her focus on winning boxing matches. There are echoes of classics like “Rocky” (a match against Russia) and “Chariots of Fire” (Crutchfield gets the results far from the match). But this story of a young woman who learns to be as tough as the rock that gave her town its name, whose nickname, “T-Rex” means she “has no reach, but is as tough as they come ,” earns our attention and affection.