“The Fire Inside” burns most intensely when Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry share the screen. Fortunately, they do so quite a bit in the impressive directorial debut of cinematographer Rachel Morrison, in theaters on Christmas Day. They star in the biopic about amateur-turned-professional boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, as Claressa and Jason Crutchfield, the coach who believes in her almost from the day she, then a little girl, enters a boxing gym. Claressa and Jason live in the economically challenged city of Flint, Michigan, where, as a little girl (portrayed by Jazmin Headley), she and her siblings in one early scene must settle for water with cereal because their struggling mother, Jackie (Oluniké Adeliyi), didn’t buy milk. Related Articles ‘A Complete Unknown’ review: Chalamet wows in Mangold’s pitch-perfect Dylan film ‘Nosferatu’ review: Robert Eggers’ love of source material clear as death ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ review: Jenkins delivers stronger film than 2019 remake ‘Nightbitch’ review: Mother embraces her animal side in thought-provoking film ‘Moana 2’ review: Sequel hits big screen unable to shake its small-screen DNA When Jason goes home after meeting Claressa and seeing the girl’s promise, he tells his wife, Mickey (De’Adre Aziza), he doesn’t know how he feels about a female boxing. “Don’t see no reason why she can’t (box),” Mickey says. “She got hands.” Coach this fierce female he does, and five years later, the pair is working toward her competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She certainly is rough around the edges, becoming highly frustrated by the scoring in an early Olympics-qualifying match she wins and, as the Olympic goal comes closer to being attained, telling the media that she likes to beat people up. She’s warned by a well-meaning representative of USA Boxing (Sarah Allen) that many folks are uncomfortable with women boxing and, as another female fighter poses for a glamourous magazine spread, that it would benefit her to bring some femininity to her public persona. She also is dating a guy who hangs out at the gym, a distraction Jason insists she can’t afford given her talent. Her more immediate problem: Jason, who also works for a cable company, can’t afford to go with her to China for the final round of Olympic qualifying. As understandable as that may be, it never sits well with Claressa. The first half of “The Fire Inside” offers a handful of lively boxing sequences, orchestrated by Morrison with a stick-and-move approach. In general, we get exciting and dramatic sports-movie fare. Ryan Destiny, right, appears in one of several boxing sequences in “The Fire Inside.” (Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios) Then, a little more than halfway through its story, “The Fire Inside” shifts gears, presenting a different challenge for Claressa and Jason — who’s become the main father figure in her life — to try to overcome, one that says something about gender equality and the American consumer. Their seemingly unbreakable bond is tested mightily. Jason means well, but perhaps he’s in over his head. At the same time, does Claressa have a right to expect more from this man who’s already done so much for her? The partnership between Ryan Destiny’s Claressa Shields and Brian Tyree Henry’s Jason Crutchfield sees its ups and downs in “The Fire Inside.” (Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios) We should go no further without mentioning one more notable person involved with “The Fire Inside” — its writer, Barry Jenkins. (Yes, that’s the same Barry Jenkins whose directorial efforts include the Academy Award-winning 2016’s “Moonlight” and the just-released, excellent “Mufasa: The Lion King.”) He knows how to mine relatable human drama, which he does via a number of interactions in “The Fire Inside.” Northeast Ohio native Braelyn Rankins talks working on ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ The vast majority of those are between Claressa and Jason, many of them arguments, and that you always can see both sides is a credit to the filmmakers and the actors. Destiny (TV series “Star” and “Grown-ish”) makes Claressa sympathetic and relatable, even as few would know what it’s like to possess her abilities, while Henry (“Atlanta,” Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk”) impresses, as he tends to do, as this everyman trying to make the extraordinary happen. And we certainly want to see more films helmed by Morrison, the director of photography on the acclaimed Ryan Coogler-directed films “Fruitvale Station” (2013) and “Black Panther” (2018). Given its somewhat unusual structure, “The Fire Inside” no doubt wasn’t the easiest film to make work. Work it does, well enough at least. It likely won’t set the world on fire, but as it comes out amid a crowd of highly anticipated films, “The Fire Inside” punches above its weight. ‘The Fire Inside’ Where: Theaters. When: Dec. 25. Rated: PG-13 for some strong language, thematic elements, and brief suggestive material. Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes. Stars (of four): 3.