TIFF 2024: The Fire Inside Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

The sports biopic is a crowded genre. Usually, stories about underdogs overcoming some sort of adversity on the way to making it big, either by winning a championship or trophy and/or earning wider acclaim, there’s only so many ways to do it. What ultimately sets them apart is their subject and in the case of The Fire Inside, it tackles the story of boxer Claressa Shields (Destiny). Coming from a tough childhood in Flint, Michigan, she would rise up the ranks on the way to becoming the first American woman to win a gold medal in boxing at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. On the way, she became not only a symbol of the resilience of her hometown but also one that helped build the notoriety of women’s boxing in the United States and also became a major advocate for female boxers. Going further than that tried and true underdog storyline, the film follows that up with the aftermath which created another hill for her to climb when faced with the harsh and unforgiving reality of the time. While the first half’s story about Claressa overcoming adversity and winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, the second half was when the film was at its best.

As mentioned, the story is about Shield’s rise to become an Olympic gold medalist but that would not have happened without her coach Jason Crutchfield (Henry). Having a passion for boxing at a young age, Claressa kept showing up at Jason’s gym looking to enter the ring and spar with the boys, however, girls boxing was largely unheard of but her persistence led to him finally giving her a chance which would prove her worth. Taking her under his wing, Jason helped her make use of her talent and hone her skills in the ring. As she rose up the ranks through an impressive winning streak, Claressa earned the attention of USA Boxing. That being said, she would still need to earn her spot on the US Olympic team by taking on more experienced boxers who were a lot older than her. After being humbled, she just had to work harder but eventually she would make the team and win the gold medal. Unlike many sports biopics, that was far from the end of the story. Looking to the medal as a way to lift up her family out of near-poverty, the cards were still stacked against her, making for her toughest fight yet. Wanting to stay in Flint and support her family, the answer appeared to be to go out on her own but she made sure to leave them, and women’s’ boxing in a good place.

The Fire Inside may be predictable, for the most part, as it goes through much of the same paces. However, there was something different about Claressa’s story that was compelling to watch. Be it Barry Jenkins’ script or experienced cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s vision behind the camera, in her directorial debut, the film felt like a true underdog story. On the other side, the strong performances from Destiny and Henry as Claressa and Jason ground it while giving audiences a fun coach-athlete and father-daughter dynamic to watch as they both went on a journey to the top, experiencing all the good and bad along the way.

In the end, The Fire Inside stand out from the crowd with an inspiring yet familiar underdog tale that thrives off of the dynamic of Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry.

still courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.