The true story of boxer Claressa Shields and her journey from Flint, Michigan to the London Olympics. The first half of the movie focuses on her working her way out of a bad home on her way to become the first female boxing gold medalist. I know this is her full story over this part of her life, but a lot of this part feels rushed and long at the same time. The second half of the movie pivots to her life after the Olympics and how almost nothing has changed. For her character, I felt this was a much more engaging part of her story that added depth and the inspirational factor the movie was looking for.

Ryan Destiny as Shields is half good. As the teenage girl who’s trying to provide for her family, she works really well and gives a solid performance. As the boxer, she’s just okay. She’s playing a 17 year old and doesn’t have any imposing factors to her on screen presence. The boxing scenes with her are shot in ways that feel like someone’s watched a lot of boxing movies but didn’t quite perfect it. Brian Tyree Henry as her Trainer is very likeable on screen as always and feels like he’s hired for movies like this just to give great monologues to the main character.

True stories sometimes struggle with not being shown in a way that makes for an impactful and powerful movie. I wish this one would have (or wouldn’t) have changed parts of it to make that happen. This is a pretty family friendly movie that doesn’t stoop to the levels of a LifeTime movie but it’s also no Creed.

6/10