Honeytrap (2014) User Reviews

True Life Inspired Urban youth drama

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 7/10 · 14 June 2015]

This was based on a real case of inter gang rivalry and a heartless honey trap to get one of the members. I remember how heartless the whole thing was. This film takes the basic premise and turns it into something altogether more human. Jessica Sula plays fifteen year Layla. She has come from Trinidad to live with her maternal mother in Brixton, South London.

Once there she starts to make new 'friends' at her school. They are mostly the sort who would be considered a 'bad influence' and she struggles to fit in. She does catch the eye of Alpha male and rapper Troy (Lucien Laviscount) and she drawn in caught by his macho charms. There is also Sean – who is an outsider within the group – he seems to be looked down on because of a perceived femininity however, he falls for Layla. This is something that will not be tolerated. This is though a story of lust, jealousy, anime, bullying and the need to belong.

The subjects are all dealt with in a responsible way and everyone puts in great performances. Jessica Sula is particularly good playing the out of water, new kid on the block who has a good heart but will not let her head rule it. The location shooting is all authentic too and that gives this much more credibility. This is a film that did not garner that much attention on release and I was not expecting great things and I have to say I was extremely pleasantly surprised – one that is easy to recommend.

Gritty British drama, depressing and hard hitting.

[MUFCOK · 7/10 · 9 June 2015]

The IMDb description somewhat ruins the climax to this movie, the storyline which is explained in the films description doesn't occur until the final 10 minutes of the movie. Honeytrap is a story of bullying, manipulation and the struggle a young girl living in London faces while trying to be accepted somewhere that she doesn't belong.

Jessica Sula plays Layla, a 15 year old girl who has returned to London to live with her mother after spending her previous 10 years living in Trinidad & Tobago with her grandparents. She is forced to attend a poor school and is immediately picked on for being different, she dresses different and speaks different and immediately tries to change who she is. She meets a local rapper and stars in his video shoot, he uses her and shows her stop-start attention to which she gets carried away with and falls in love with him. Little does she know that he is only using her to make another boy jealous and to massage his own ego and fulfil his own selfish desires.

Jessica Sula gives the performance of the movie, her acting is very impressive and her character is especially remarkable. She connects with her role very well and gives a perfectly convincing performance. She plays a naïve, scared young girl living in a strange city, trying to adapt to a chilling way of life. The majority of the supporting cast do a respectable job in making the story feel gritty but Jessica Sula outshines them all. This is a low budget, independent film and this needs to be remembered when viewing. Many of the faces you see you will not recognise and the director is very new to the industry. It does have its negatives, some scenarios feel forced and clichéd and more backstory and character development would have been nice to see. This film had the opportunity to push more boundaries to create more depth to the story but with a run time of 90 minutes it failed to do so. Despite the negatives I have, Honeytrap had many things which I liked and overall I will remember this movie as a positive.

Honeytrap is not a film you should watch if you are looking for an easy watching film. It is dark and gritty; it has some very powerful, hard hitting scenes and its aim is to open its viewer's eyes to situations that are all too common. It is loosely based around true events that occurred in 2008 and this makes it all the more depressing. Young girls can be so naïve and easily influenced by older boys who they wrongly look up to and admire, Honeytrap is a chilling look at how this can happen and its devastating consequences.

7/10

only half a job done

[mahonyjohn-02199 · 5/10 · 30 August 2016]

Read the good reviews but found the film stylistically confusing.sometimes a true life TV discovery channel reconstruction ,sometimes a TV melodrama with way too much use of music ,and on occasions a drama documentary with the camera and sound just hanging around. Lead actress held it all together with a spectacularly varied and deep

range of facial expressive work. Hated to be disappointed . Needed a more cultural base to give it heart in a community. And more cinematic approach ..too much use of music to emphasise emotionally what we should see within the shots and structure...and too many Dream sequences from the lead character which are an easy way out to character development...needed to come from within the character and/or mis en scene.

Watch it

[e-elyze · 18 May 2018]

Starts kind of slow but this is a really good movie.

The main character is young, nice and naive, she falls in love with an INSANELY attractive bad boy.

Dark, twisted and dramatic... I think women will relate to this movie more then men.

A WELCOME TRAP...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 5 July 2018]

Ahh the travails of youth, what stupidity kids of a certain generation go through because they feel the need to belong to anything in their small, important lives. Honeytrap follows a 15 year old ex pat from Trinidad staying w/her mother in Blighty as she navigates the treacherous annals of teendom. Watching this as I approach middle age, I winced & fretted over this teen's decisions, I wondered if I would be so dejected & gullible that I wouldn't make the same mistakes. Told & acted w/refreshing honesty, you may hate the journey this film takes you on but ultimately the sobering message is worth the trip.

a sad, realistic story of manipulation and exploitation

[jacksonmeddows · 6/10 · 13 May 2022]

I thought this was a surprising, solid movie. Overall, however, definitely something you should skip if you don't have much time. The lead (Jessica Sula) did a great job. I would say the rating on this one is definitely a little low. It was a very realistic and upsetting story.

Also, for a movie from 2014, I would say this has a really diverse cast, which I thought was nice. I didn't let that affect my rating, though.

I would say the use of music was rather heavy-handed. I saw another review here that said the same thing, and I definitely agree, which is what made me knock it down from a potential 7 to, unfortunately, a 6.

Very very very poor

[MAYESY-44 · 2/10 · 21 September 2020]

Quality of this film is not very high, the acting is not great at all. Compared to other British films this is shocking. Top it all off the ending was awful.

Naive girl makes poor decisions out of love

[authorwriterd · 7/10 · 11 November 2017]

This movie was very well-done. You can tell that it's an low budget movie but that fact isn't distracting. The characters are well thought out. The portrayal is very believable. There were moments I was laughing, gasping, grinning and sobbing.

Very well done. I recommend it.

Plays on stereotypes.. poor!

[nishil-patel1 · 4/10 · 3 April 2021]

This movie is predictable and plays on typical stereotypes. The storyline is badly constructed and lacks any creativity. Though I accept the events were inspired by true events, the writer/director struggles to piece to together a coercive plot.

I expect the movie was created on a low budget and that is the only positive I can take!

Classic set up

[SaritaLW · 6/10 · 24 October 2016]

I never knew this story was based on true events until I read about it after I watched it. It's actually really sad. Here you have this 15 year old girl from Trinidad (Layla), played by Jessica Sula who was taken care of by her grandparents. She was sent to London to finally go live with her mother who seems to be irritated but happy that she is there at the same time. There, Layla tries her hardest to do what her mom says and fit in at school. As I watch Layla, I can't help but think of other teenagers her age in the same situation. Wanting to change her clothes, her look, and her hair just to fit in. She finally meets a popular local rapper (Troy) played by Lucien Laviscount. Troy is immediately infatuated by Layla and puts her in his video. Another boy who likes her is Shaun, who is played by Ntonga Mwanza. For some reason, Troy and his gang don't like Shaun and almost bully him but Layla likes him as a friend and this infuriates Troy. Troy and Layla date but Layla soon finds out who he really is and who her so called friends are. But Layla is "weak" and gets caught up in a lot more than she bargains for. Classic set up. I liked this movie for the message and hoped when it ended that it all worked out for her seeing as the movie left off as a cliffhanger.

Some kind of Wonderful

[dieloveyou · 10/10 · 22 April 2016]

Many are judging this movie to be another typical British 'gang' movie when this is not what it is at all. Honey Trap is about a beautiful 15 year old girl named Layla who has never known this lifestyle before. Moving over to brixton from Trinidad after living with her grandparents for so long, Layla moves in with her uncaring mother whom she has never really known. She gets sucked into this wonderful yet crappy world where she meets the local handsome rapper Troy who is a bit shifty. Layla is besotted with him. Its her first time in love. She falls so hard, but unfortunately, troy doesn't feel the same way and turns out to be another bad boy. But when troys rival, Sean falls for Layla, troy cannot help but to be jealous and envious and claims Layla as his and his only. In a sad way, Layla sort of likes it. All these beautiful and sad events lead up to one big final tragic one. Give it a chance.

A charm.

[bmfinite-60218 · 9/10 · 23 October 2016]

I was recommended this film a lot by my friends and family. And I finally had some spare time so I watched it and it was a excellent film. Honeytrap is about a teenage girl named Layla that is finally reunited with her mother in London and she is forced to fit in this new society. Her mother is constantly barking orders at her and shows no support for her daughter. Layla finds her way into the music industry, drugs, and violence. she starts to make bad decisions because she has no sense of guidance from know one. This film helps today's society to help young male & female to find something to motivate them to a goal to avoid them from the other bad influences. That's what makes this film a must see for me and anyone else who is reading this.

YOU JUST DON'T DO IT

[nogodnomasters · 8/10 · 6 May 2019]

This is a tragic coming of age story centering around Layla (Jessica Sula) an immigrant from Trinidad living with her estranged mother (Naomi Ryan) in London. Layla hangs out with the wrong crowd and tries to fit in. She falls for Troy (Lucien Laviscount) who does hip-hop videos and allows Layla to be in them. Troy is not the wonderful man she believes and things take a turn for the worse.

I was confused by the brief opening scene which actually comes near the end of the film.

The film was well acted. However, I didn't find viewing a young girl in a downward spiral overly entertaining. This wasn't my cup of tea, but that shouldn't deter people who like well done teen drama/tragedy.

Guide: F-bomb. Sex. No nudity

Teen love can be great, but then....

[michael-kerrigan-526-124974 · 8/10 · 23 October 2020]

Layla is a 15 year old girl who has just come 'home' to her mother in Brixton having spent the last ten years in Trinidad with her grandparents. A nice lad, Shaun, takes an immediate shine to her and Layla likes him too, if only as a friend. Instead, she falls for a local Z-lister Troy, who doesn't want her, but she can't have anyone else. The title of the film probably suggests this isn't going to end well. This is social realism at its best. Superbly acted. Emotional. And ultimately sad. Not your typical popcorn movie, but a must see 8 out of ten