The best thing about Regal Cinemas’ Monday Mystery Movie isn’t the popcorn, the candy or even the $5 tickets — it’s the exposure it gives to films you may not have chosen to watch on your own.
While Regal occasionally shows a highly awaited film, they’re also known to show films that have fallen victim to a severe lack in marketing. That can be said for the Dec. 16 Mystery Movie: “The Fire Inside” set to release on Dec. 25, 2024.
Following up-and-coming female boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny), “The Fire Inside” tells the inspiring true story of a young woman fighting for success and recognition in women’s boxing.
Growing up in Flint, Michigan, wasn’t easy on Claressa. The only escape from her difficult home life was boxing at her local gym. After trying as a child to be allowed in the ring, boxing coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry) recognized her passion and agreed to be her coach.
Flash forward to 2012, where at just 16-years-old, Claressa has worked her way up the ladder and is now fighting to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.
With odds stacked against her, Claressa battles not only her opponents but public perceptions, family complications and the everyday struggles of being a teenager.
Directed by Rachel Morrison, “The Fire Inside” is a simple yet moving film that doesn’t need the latest bells and whistles to grab your attention. Its strong screenplay draws in the audience and holds them from the first punch thrown to the last.
Known for his Oscar winning film “Moonlight”, in which he wrote and directed, Barry Jenkins is the talent behind the script for “The Fire Inside”. The range of emotion we’re granted, from frustration, hope, disappointment, joy and so many more make this a heavy hitting film — and not just because of the boxing gloves.
Because of its pacing and deep character development, it’s very easy to root for Claressa’s success as she tries to become the United State’s first ever gold medalist in women’s boxing.
This breakthrough performance from Ryan Destiny perfectly embodied the spirit, strength and grit of the real Claressa Shields, who served as an executive producer on “The Fire Inside”. Each line was delivered with passion and purpose, helping to create a strong protagonist.
Destiny’s performance isn’t the only impressive one — Brian Tyree Henry as coach Jason Crutchfield was an equally powerful performance and the two stars had excellent on screen chemistry.
Henry is no stranger to the big screen and is known for his roles in films such as “Bullet Train”, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Joker”. Jason Crutchfield garnered the most laughs throughout the film, and his character offered a lot of humor to the more serious film.
Although the screenplay is solid and the performances are great, there isn’t much else that stands out about “The Fire Inside”. There’s no doubt that Claressa’s story is inspirational and incredible, but even as a viewer who didn’t know Claressa’s story, the film still felt predictable and underwhelming.
This could, in part, be due to the film’s score. Music can help build anticipation and suspense in a movie, cueing the audience that something important is about to happen. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much emotion in the score — which is disappointing to see in a year with so many impressive film scores.
Visual content can only do so much in hard-hitting scenes and score is what helps to leverage emotion and bring it to life — something that “The Fire Inside” was missing.
Although “The Fire Inside” may not be winning any major awards, if you’re curious to learn about the woman who fought for equal pay amongst U.S. Olympic athletes, then this is a great watch.
Claressa’s journey is a true “rags to riches” story that deserves recognition and praise, and hopefully “The Fire Inside” can further illustrate just how remarkable her career has been as the only American boxer to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals.
“The Fire Inside” releases in theaters on Dec. 25, 2024 and is rated PG-13 for “some strong language, thematic elements and brief suggestive material” according to IMDB.
