Movie Review: The Fire Inside

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

An engaging sports drama about a 17-year-old girl, who gets to compete in women's boxing in the Olympics. 

There is much to admire and like about this movie. It does exactly what any underdog sports film should. It immediately gets us on the side of our main character and to want to see her win. While the character, as presented here, is not exactly a complex character, she is likable. Her efforts to continue to be true to herself and her refusal to become someone else, makes us admire her. Ryan Destiny's heartfelt and charismatic performance lends much to how much we care about her. However, the scene stealer here is Brian Tyree Henry as her coach. This may be his best movie performance yet. He is very entertaining to watch and often brings some great humor. At the same time, he also brings a lot of heart to this film. It is said that Ice Cube was originally considered for the role. No offense to Ice Cube but I doubt the movie would have worked as well. Oscar winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins wrote the script here and he often provides something smarter than your average underdog sports film. This movie takes a look at something that most of these movies would never even acknowledge. This is whether all the main character has been training for and fighting for is worth it and if it will actually make a difference. This is especially well explored during the very smart third act. The director is Rachel Morrison with her first directorial feature film. She had earlier worked as a cinematographer and this is probably this is such a handsome film, where the story is just as much told through the settings and the visuals (especially of Flint, Michigan) as the characters and dialogue. 

This film does have its flaws though. The romance and the family drama can feel very rushed through. Because of this neither is as emotionally effective as it should be. The middle section of the movie can also delve too much into sports movie clichés that we have seen many times. 

This may not be a perfect film, but it will delight anyone who likes these types of sports dramas and even some who don't.