Strangers Who Are Held Captive Are Forced to Choose Who Lives And Who Dies in a Test Made by Aliens

Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a mystery, drama film from 2015, titled Circle. Spoilers ahead!

Watch out and take care. A soft light comes on revealing people standing in a circle, unconscious. Suddenly, a young woman wakes up.

She calls out, but no one answers. She tries to move in front of herself, but a buzzer rings. She sees that she's standing on a red circle.

She tries to move behind, but the buzzer rings again. She tries to touch the soldier next to her, but the buzzer rings for that too. There's a circle glowing on her hand.

A man from the other side of the room tells her to stop moving. He says "they" can see us. She asks questions he can only guess the answers too.

Another woman wakes up, panicked. He tries to calm her, but she moves and a beam of electricity shooting from the middle of the circle of people kills her. Suddenly, the lights come on and everyone wakes, one man dies instantly.

The first man tells everyone to stop moving, while a cop is looking for his gun. He tells everyone to stand still and not to touch anyone. A beeping sound can be heard and one of the men that was killed gets dragged away, as his hand glows as well.

The beeping continues and the electrical charge starts building, it kills the first man before he can speak again. Everyone is panicking now, but as they are calming down the guy in the hat figures out that he's controlling the lights on the floor. The light stops in front of a woman and the electricity zaps her.

As the others ask what's going on, the guy in the hat tells them to see how they can change the lights on the floor. Everyone tries per his instruction and they realize they can only see the light they are controlling. The hat guy says that they are the ones that choose who dies.

The beeping starts and another person gets zapped. The beeping starts again as the pregnant woman looks around trying to figure out what is happening. The electricity zaps again and she says that they are actually voting.

She says that they're killing off whomever gets the most votes and that they choose by closing their hands. Someone suggests they all vote for the dead one and they all agree, as the beeping is under way. When it stops, someone gets zapped regardless.

The next time it beeps, they all try not voting. Suddenly all of the pointer lights come on and someone still gets zapped. The guy in the blue hoodie tells everyone to be quiet and suggests they develop a strategy, so they are able to figure out their situation and stop what's happening to them.

His suggestion - to kill the older people first. Hat guy agrees, but not everyone else. Blue hoodie says they should start with the first one on his right and kill them off clockwise.

Pregnant lady disagrees, but no one has a better idea. The beeping continues and the first old man begs, but the zapper gets him. Since the majority agrees with blue hoodie's strategy, they try to figure out what's happening to them.

They ask the soldier, thinking he might know what it is, like an alien invasion or something similar, but he's just as confused as the rest of them. A man in the back starts speaking about what he remembers from before he woke up there. He is remembering being stuck in a traffic jam, then running before everything went dark.

A few others say they remember the same thing. The beeping starts again and they vote, for the second old person. The guy remembers being pulled up in a ship.

He also remembers a red room with bodies piled up, which he now thinks weren't dead, but actually drugged. They all vote for the third old person, as they continue their conversation. The fourth old person says he also remembers something, maybe the aliens - how they spoke and what they looked like.

Some of the people don't believe him, thinking he's lying to save himself. But he gets zapped. Hat guy asks who'll be the next in line to get zapped.

They point to the hat lady, asking her how old she is. The fact that she's only 52, changes the minds of the others. She tells them that she had cancer, but she beat it.

Blue hoodie thinks that since she is more likely to die than the rest of them, she should be next. A doctor interjects, saying that's not true. To that blue hoodie says that since she's over fifty she needs to go, but some of the others disagree wondering how low the age limit would get eventually.

Blue hoodie tries to convince them of his strategy to no avail. They kill him. Cancer lady suggests that they should start figuring out why they were chosen for the circle.

Though some of the others think that it was a random scenario. She says that they should try to learn more about each other. Beth goes first and tells the others about herself.

As she speaks the beeping starts again and she gets zapped. After that, most of the people think that they should not share their names and they're apprehensive about sharing anything else too. Craig goes next regardless, saying that the woman on his left is his wife.

Someone asks who else knows each other and a man from the back speaks up, saying he knows the doctor. The two of them don't want to share how they know each other though. Craig continues, begging the people not to kill his wife.

The beeping continues and another zap happens. Next they asks the Hispanic man to speak, but he doesn't understand English. The woman behind him says she'll translate.

She asks him about his family and he says that he has 3 daughters down in Mexico. Red tie man starts the conversation about illegal immigrants, but the man in the flannel shirt asks him if he would need a green card to get abducted by aliens. They tell the translator to ask him if he was in the US legally and he says no.

The beeping continues, but it zaps a young girl in the front row, to the surprise of some. The cop recognizes a guy from the front row - Raul, because he beat up his own girlfriend. Cancer lady asks if he's sure it was him.

The exchange between the cop and Raul becomes more about profiling and prejudice, than about what he could've possibly done for the cop to know him. When they start asking if he did beat up his girlfriend, he says that she got what she deserved. Next round, Raul gets zapped.

After that, the blonde from the front row says that maybe they're supposed to figure out who's good and who's bad. She says there must be a reason why they're there, but the man next to her doesn't agree, saying that maybe the whole point is for them to kill each other while the aliens watch. However, the blonde guy behind her interprets her question as figuring out who deserves to live.

So they wonder what they should base it on, while the beeping continues. It zaps the Muslim woman from the front row. The African American man asks the racial question and stirs the conversation.

The white people, at first, say that in that room nothing is fair and the other African Americans tell him not to continue with the conversation, because he will only make himself a target. Hat guy agrees with them. The question reveals how people actually feel about race.

The cop is the next one to speak, revealing his racism and prejudice. The beeper starts, the cop dies. The soldier thinks that they shouldn't talk about their opinions and prejudices, but the African American man disagrees, saying everything should be on the table.

The soldier and the translator say that they shouldn't turn on each other and instead try to figure out what is happening to them. The next time they vote, they try voting for themselves, but it doesn't work. So they try voting for the person next to them.

Someone still gets zapped, because somebody made a mistake. They try the same thing again and the pregnant woman helps the kid next to her. Suddenly, the pregnant girl and a man are chosen, so everyone votes again.

The man gets zapped. The guy from the back says he voted for the man, because he saw him voting for the pregnant girl. He says that the way the game was designed, in the end it will get down to the pregnant girl or the kid.

To that the blonde guy from the second row replies that if they get rid of them, everyone will have a better chance. The guy in the flannel shirt says that it should be one of them to walk out, but red tie disagrees. Cancer lady says that the pregnant girl counts as two people.

The voting begins and it's another tie, between an older woman and the kid. They vote for the lady. The guy from the back and the soldier think that they should protect the two of them, but the man with the glasses wants to know what they're like first.

He asks the kid questions when the voting begins and it's another tie, between the pregnant girl and the kid. The guy standing behind them says to kill them both, but he gets zapped instead. Craig suggests they should ask for volunteers.

They go around the circle, but no one steps up, until a teenager says he'll volunteer. They argue if they should ask him why he would do it. Eventually he does answer, saying he doesn't want to kill anyone.

Flannel shirt says that he's a kid and that it's not fair to let him do it. Red tie and glasses man disagree, so hey ask if he's sure. An older gentleman from the back volunteers in his stead and when the beeping starts, he walks off from his circle.

Red tie and glasses still insist they should ask for volunteers, but they're not willing to do it themselves. Flannel guy thinks that everyone except the pregnant girl should step forward. Glasses asks the teenager if he still wants to do it and after the beeping, he steps out and dies.

Next, everyone expects the soldier to volunteer. But he doesn't want to, because he thinks he's sacrificed enough in his life. He wants to get back to his family and meet his kid.

Time is running out and they wait for a volunteer. A woman from the back does it, because she's lost her son. The Deacon tells her that she will see him again.

She says goodbye and walks out of her circle. The man in the black suit antagonizes him, when they find out he's a deacon. They finally reach the religion question.

The man in the black suit, tells them that they have only one god now and it's the zapper. He gets mad and tries to find the other atheists in the circle. The beeping starts and he thinks they'll all choose him.

Both him and another girl are chosen. She gets zapped. He continues to antagonize everyone, by asking the blond next to him if she's a porn star.

She says no, but he keeps pushing her and offending her. The next voting round comes up and he dies. While the blond is crying, glasses man says that they should take into account if some of them have children.

Craig says that him and his wife have a daughter. Glasses thinks that the ones that don't have children should sacrifice themselves. Red tie man asks a woman from the back if she has any kids or a husband, but she throws the question back at him.

While he's answering another girl gets zapped. Then the woman tells them about her life and they find out that she's gay. Red tie is clearly a homophobe and the others take offense to what he's saying, so in the next voting round, he dies.

Blond guy asks what happens at the end when only two are left. Would they tie? So the guy in the back suggests that one of the two wouldn't vote and would effectively be sacrificing them self.

Flannel guy says that he would sacrifice himself and cancer lady implies that they should pick someone they would trust to make the right decision. The translator says that no one can be trusted. Blond guy says that they all should decide.

The blond woman asks what happens if it comes down to the two of them? The doctor says they could decide for them. The voting is underway and her and the man that knows her are tied.

They die together. The blond guy is convinced that they should decide who out of the two of them should die, but the soldier thinks he's just manipulating everybody to get rid of both the pregnant girl and the kid. Craig asks who would they choose out of the two, then glasses asks the pregnant girl what she does for work.

The others don't think it's a fair question, as he continues explaining that it's important to know who contributes more to society out of them. The translator says that what's important is that she's pregnant. Glasses antagonizes the pregnant girl, when another voting round starts and kills hat guy.

Flannel asks glasses what he does and he answers that he's a banker and a contributing member to society. Glasses antagonizes all of them, but the translator gets zapped. Most of the people think that the Hispanic man should be next, when the man from the back says that one side killed the translator because she would never vote for the kid or the pregnant girl.

Now that the question of "sides" is raised they start counting each other to see which one stands where. Who will be the ones to vote for the girls and who won't? The vote begins and the kid and the Hispanic man tie.

He sees what's happening and he sacrifices himself for the girl. Glasses antagonizes the soldier and he aligns with the side that wants to kill the two girls. Him and the blond guy get the couple and the African American man on their side.

The voting starts. The kid is in a tie again, but this time with glasses. The African American man and the blond man say that they should let hem both die.

But only glasses dies, because the wife changes her vote. They find out it was her, but she says that she didn't change it, she just didn't vote. Flannel guy says that they all know that they will die and that it's better to go out with some dignity.

Craig thinks that he's implying that the kid should die and the pregnant girl should remain last. The blond guy wants to get the blond woman on his side, but when he can't he says that they should vote for the flannel guy so that they could even things out and have more time to talk about everything. They vote for the flannel guy.

Next, they try to find the majority for each group, so the soldier suggests they vote for the wife, to test the husband. At the last second Craig switches his vote and the soldier says that they all vote for the African American man. After he dies, the blond guy gets angry at Craig and says that they're probably not even married, trying to turn everyone else against them.

They all start asking them questions, but the wife caves when one of the women asks for his name. She doesn't even remember when he said it before. Craig caves and says it was her idea, but they still kill him.

The fake wife tells them that she didn't lie about her kid. The blond guy keeps reminding everyone that they are all killers, but he promises the wife that if she joins his side, he will keep her alive. He asks the older man what side he's on, but the man doesn't speak.

Then he asks the woman next to him to join him by playing on her feelings about her family. The voting begins and ends with a five way tie between the blond guy, the soldier, cancer lady, blond woman and the gay woman. Only the blond guy remains after the revote.

The Deacon is crying and the blond guy continues with his strategy, then asks the pregnant woman for her vote. She says no. The guy in the back stays on his position about the strategy.

The Deacon apologizes to the pregnant girl and steps off. The guy in the back and the blond guy realize that they would need to change strategies, so the blond guy says to trade with him for one of the girls and he'll give him the fake wife. The voting begins and they all vote except for the older man.

The wife dies. The guy from the back says that the older man never voted during the whole ordeal and he made it all the way to where they are. The guy in the back and the blond guy argue about him, with the first one making the other one think they will all vote for the older man.

But, him and the pregnant girl have an understanding about who they will be voting for. The zapper kills the blond guy. Only four of them remain.

This time they will all vote for the older man, because they don't have another choice. He dies. The guy is left with the two girls and they talk about the reason why all of it is happening.

He says that maybe the aliens are conducting an experiment to see what humans are like and what matters to them. The pregnant girl asks why they would do that by making them kill each other, so the guy answers that by choosing who dies they can see the way people judge each other and how they think. Next, he tell the two girls that the two of them would have to decide which one of them dies, he can't make that decision for them.

The kid cries, because she's made her decision. She'll go, for the sake of the baby. He tells her that they'll go together, but at the last minute when the kid steps out of her circle, he votes for the pregnant girl.

Both the girl and the pregnant woman fall over, but nothing happens, he's still trapped in the room. Another vote begins, he curses the aliens thinking that they'll kill him regardless and he doesn't vote. When the beeping stops, he sees that he's tied with the baby and has to choose between the baby and himself.

He chooses the baby to die. He wakes up outside looking up at a spaceship. When he stands up, he sees that there are more than one of them.

He played everyone in the room to get to the last round of the voting circle, knowing what he would do if he got there. He saved himself.