The Fire Inside has enough quality to please genre and sports enthusiasts even if it feels like an undercard fixture. For all the talent on both sides of the camera, the nuts-and-bolts script lacks innovation and the pacing neither bobs nor weaves.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 28, 2025

What happens in the ring is ferocious enough, but it’s around the kitchen sink that the drama really hots up.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 14, 2025

[The Fire Inside] understands that, with storytelling as with fighting, sometimes all you need to do is stand firm and land the punches.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 10, 2025

The Fire Inside is a sports biopic with the nerve to ask, “What happens after the win?” It’s a simple shift in emphasis, but an unexpectedly transformative one.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 6, 2025

Shields is a worthwhile subject and her accomplishments are incredible, but this film is perhaps one for underdog sports enthusiasts only.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 5, 2025

If the movie sounds like a bummer, it’s really not. Atlanta’s Tyree Henry’s natural jovial warmth makes him a perfect foil for Shields’ cool reserve; their banter is a joy to watch.

| Jan 31, 2025

"The Fire Inside," which tells the story of Flint, Michigan's Claressa "T. Rex" Shields, the first female American boxer to win Olympics gold, is a well-made, straight-ahead, sports biopic

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 30, 2024

The film has a spacious generosity toward all of its characters, even Shields’ parents, reflecting her commitment to her family and community, as deep as her focus on winning boxing matches.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 28, 2024

I'm so happy that Barry Jenkins, who wrote this screenplay, understood what the movie is really about.

| Dec 27, 2024

[Brian Tyree Henry] invigorates the film and humanizes so much of it.

| Dec 27, 2024

Yes, "The Fire Inside" is a classic come-from-behind sports tale. But its Shields' fire that makes it burn red hot, and become not just a great sports story, but a great sports story for this particular moment in time.

| Original Score: B | Dec 27, 2024

Rather than using the 17-year-old Shields’ pugnacious attitude to really explore how she landed body blows on the sexist establishment, The Fire Inside just ends up shadow boxing.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 27, 2024

It’s a promising [directorial debut], full of beautiful shots, unexpected choices and rousing fights inside the ring, anchored by a thoughtful, engaging script and compelling lead performances.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 27, 2024

It’s both familiar and fresh, hitting some of the expected beats of a boxing movie with an admirably light touch before considering what comes after victory.

| Dec 27, 2024

Throws a bevy of familiar, rousing punches on its way to a feel-good finale. Yet in the fearsome eyes of Destiny, it boasts its own unique power.

| Dec 25, 2024

Destiny is entirely believable both as a champion boxer and a young woman finding her way, and Henry has a moving, gentle toughness as the coach who couldn’t quite climb the heights himself, but helps her get there.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 24, 2024

Ryan Destiny’s performance as Shields is persuasive and commanding.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 24, 2024

This is not the tale of an individual; it’s about a community and also a system that’s stacked against people like Claressa.

| Dec 24, 2024

“The Fire Inside” is no pity party about a system’s inequality, and the movie’s refusal to paint anyone in Claressa’s life as simply an impediment or an ally is another sign of the movie’s welcome emotional intelligence.

| Dec 24, 2024

In an era where the mid-budget movie has mostly disappeared, The Fire Inside’s modest, thoughtful reworking of the sports drama formula can feel refreshing.

| Original Score: B- | Dec 24, 2024