LIKES:
Good Acting
Funny At Times
Realism Balanced With Hollywood Magic
The Character Portrayal
Decent Use of Most Characters
The Establishment of a Community
The Message Is Carried Throughout
Summary:
A sports movie often thrives on good characters, good performances, and finding the right amount of material to show in the film without cramming everything inside. Fire Inside accomplishes much of this for me, and I start with my review of the performances. Headley is great in her short time on her screen, cute, fierce, and shows that raw passion to succeed against all odds. She needs more time but establishes the groundwork that Destiny will build upon with Morrison's direction. Henry is my favorite character of the bunch, his utilization, his character, and his development are the most interesting of the bunch. He provides vulnerability, strength, and passion realistically, crafting a believable journey that I found relevant and emotional. It was a less intense version of Mickey and never tried to emulate the trainer to the same level, which served as a nice pairing to the much more intense older version of Shields. T-Rex is accurate on more than one level, the fighter inside brimming with heat that Destiny unleashes to such vicious degrees as the title suggested. The attitude matches the persona the interviews and footage show, and though a tad intense and over the top for me, fit the bill on the icon she had to portray. With fantastic chemistry and the establishment of a community, The Fire Inside doesn't stray from utilizing many of the characters to a respectable degree, as each member of Flint helps to control the inferno from engulfing Shields' entire character. Could there have been more involvement and time with other characters? Absolutely, but I felt there were few wasted characters in this film that other movies have done in their presentations. In addition, they never dropped the message or point of the movie in their inclusion but rather utilized it to further shape the fight that Shields was waging with her training.
Smart character use and acting aside, the movie also holds merit in the journey to where she is today. With a strong training focus present in many boxing movies, Morrison has managed to take the magic of Rocky's montage but curb it to be its own thing in focus on Shields and not just boxing. It moves towards some great fight scenes that center on Shields' attitude and the internal struggles that accompany them as almost a contender themselves. The fights have enough involvement to be exciting at times but never lose the realistic touch Morrison was targeting in her film. Throughout the whole film, though, the movie handles the drama components well through the message that is the mainstay of this film. The Fire Inside is all about hard work and determination to achieve the goals and the bumps along the way. Shields' journey was paved with challenges, but the movie shows what had to be done to get through them and how her coach assisted with this. It's smart, realistic, and relevant, perhaps the strongest component of this movie. Such a lesson provides a lot more meaning behind this story and could potentially do great things for the viewer with an open mind. Comedy helps ground the film from becoming cheesy but never undermines the message, a prime example of quality direction and writing culminating together.
DISLIKES:
The Story Seems Crammed At Times
The Fights Need A Little More Polishing and Magic
The Fights Quit Two-Thirds Of The Way
Becomes a slow drama that summarizes than explains
Lacks the Full Spectacle
Summary:
Such balance came at a cost, though, primarily due to the shorter run time. The story feels cramped, elements are not fully explored, and it feels almost lacking in the grand scheme of things compared to movies like Remember the Titans and Cool Runnings. A few fights with the family seem quick add-ons, and some of the self-discovery is simplified or found off-camera during the time jumps. It helps not to bloat the film with massive levels of drama that would slow the pace down, but it's disappointing at times when it cuts into some of the other facets of the film I was invested in, like the fights. The Fire Inside short changes the boxing matches, the realism blunting them enough that they feel good, but then just sort of end. Where Rocky and Creed add that finesse to the movies with sound effects, an awesome score, and those key shots that unleash the fury of the bout, ironically, the flame felt sort of weak in these moments, with more vigor and vim in the post-fight moments than the actual punches. A little more spectacle and Hollywood magic would have enhanced these fights and made the build-up worth it. Even worse, about two-thirds of the way through, the boxing stops, which changes the entire pace and presentation of the movie to more melodramatic and after-school special design. This part felt a little stiff, the time dilating to a slower pace that, for an epic boxing movie, didn't feel the best finish to the film. Only the battle she waged on a different front added the spice it needed from being unnecessary, alongside the character development I talked about earlier. Either way, the full spectacle effect feels just shy in this movie for audience members like me.
The VERDICT
The Fire Inside is a movie that is optimized for inspiring a lot of people with that incredible message baked into Shields' story. Morrison leads a great design with a strong and motivational film that should hopefully move people the way it moved me. Shields' life was hard and required a lot of sacrifice to get where she was, and this movie portrays that as one of the more realistic portrayals of a journey in a long time. Fantastic acting and character use keeps everything in check, and the added splendor of Hollywood helps enhance most things to an acceptable degree. Many, I feel, will love much of the story and find amazement in what this young woman accomplished in her rise to her current state. Movie-wise, the trailers exaggerate the fights a bit, the realism a bit too prevalent in the fighting that softened the impact of the fight, especially their finishes. Throw in the fighting scenes come to an end with still a third of the run time remaining, and you might be disappointed at the abrupt change of pace and feel of the movie. Thus, the full spectacle was not there for me, and it sort of hurts my recommendation to see this in theater, with a better optimization at home. My scores for this film are:
Biography/Drama/Sports: 7.5-8.0
Movie Overall: 7.0.
