Excellent but underrated film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I don't usually like movies or books that go back and forth constantly between the past and the present. I'm usually frustrated, lamenting over the lost art of a linear storyline. I'm glad I stuck it out and watched Closing the Ring; it was very entertaining.The film starts at Shirley MacLaine's husband's funeral. Christopher Plummer sits outside with her during the service. Then, a flash to the past, with a young Shirley MacLaine surrounded by three adoring servicemen about to be shipped off to WW2. Which one is young Christopher Plummer? Which one is her husband? As the film continues, more mysteries are introduced. Neve Campbell can't understand her mother's attitude after her father's death. And in Ireland, Pete Postlethwaite is digging in a dangerous area, finding pieces of a wrecked WW2 airplane. Each flashback to the 1940s gives just one more piece to the ever-growing puzzle, and it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. I kept pressing pause when I rented this movie with my mom to talk about what I thought would be revealed. Sometimes I was right, sometimes I was wrong, and that made the plot even more entertaining.Probably because one of the first movies I remember seeing Christopher Plummer in was The Lakehouse, I never found him to be a very likable guy. He was so convincingly cold, I had a hard time seeing him as anything else. However, in Closing the Ring, Christopher Plummer gives a very different performance. I'm going to have to rethink my impression of him. In one scene, he burst into tears so naturally, I wanted to reach through the screen and embrace him in a tight hug.While the younger actors in the movie aren't going to be nominated for Oscars anytime soon, the older folks make up for it. Shirley MacLaine looks beautiful, so if you're one of her fans, don't miss this one! And if you like WW2 movies, or movies that flash back and forth with a little mystery, you'll love it.

This wasn't a successful movie at all. A love story aimed at an older audience, the kind of movie watchers preferring exposition to explosions. It can be defined a quality World War II drama that deserves to be more just another TV broadcast. The promise is the kind that might seem overly melodramatic if heard in a movie set in contemporary times but it is at home with the wartime realities so effectively rendered in Closing the Ring. Attenborough is a past master at this type of drama and shifts a lot between the decades, avoiding the confusion so common to non-linear films like this. The resemblance between the younger and older actors isn't striking, but their performances make this a minor issue.

It's 1991 Branagan, Michigan. Marie (Neve Campbell) is burying his dead father Chuck. Her mother Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine) is unmoved by his death and more concerned about Marie and her boyfriend Peter. She is comforted by Jack (Christopher Plummer). In Belfast, Quinlan (Pete Postlethwaite) and Jimmy Reilly are digging up the wreckage of a B-17. Jimmy finds a ring. Back in 1941 Belfast, Northern Ireland, Ethel Ann (Mischa Barton) is friends with Jack (Gregory Smith) and Chuck. Teddy Gordon (Stephen Amell) is building a house for her and she's in love. Jack, Chuck and Teddy are all going up in B-17.The movie moves back and forth too much and too easily between the time periods in the beginning. The three plot lines don't mash together well. The modern day Irish story is stuck out in the middle of nowhere with its own world. Jimmy could have just showed up with the ring without Belfast. Richard Attenborough is going old school with this romance drama. There is something lacking in the 1941 story. The actors are probably not up to the same standard as their older self. Gregory Smith's little mustache is silly. David Alpay and Stephen Amell are lifeless. Mischa Barton tries but she's too frail unlike the ballsy broad that is Shirley MacLaine. It's probably asking too much for the two young actors to try to be MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. Those two elder statesmen exude real acting power. Their section with Neve Campbell is a great little indie.

This is utter tripe. A complete waste of the superb cast. The fact Sir Richard Attenborough directed this makes it all the worse. The acting is good but the best actors in the world can't make a bad script a good film. It's long, drawn out, & flat out boring which is sad. It's a poor excuse for a movie. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unfortunately. This is actually worse than Sandra Bullock's terrible snooze-fest "Love & War." Stick to Attenborough's "Gandhi" (although it doesn't hold up too well today) & "Chaplin" for his best efforts. This is not one of them at all. This was unheard of for quite good reason. Skip this because you will forget it before it's even over.