Ludik

Arnold Vosloo's big vanity project!

I really tried to give it a fair shake. But... The sound design is irritating to say the least. The local actors sound like they either just dialing it in or reciting lines. It's not even remotely close to international standards like Squid Game or Money Heist.

Daan Ludik is a successful furniture business owner based in Pretoria; he uses his firm's regular deliveries to Zimbabwe to smuggle diamonds. One day an arms dealer wants Daan to uses his route to take an arms shipment across the border... to persuade him he has Daan's brother kidnapped and tortured. The first shipment goes horribly wrong and this brings problems for Daan; most obviously the police start asking questions for the first time. He also has various family problems. Intertwined with this we see flashbacks of Daan's childhood where his family is dominated by his bullying father.

I thought this was a pretty decent six part series; it may not be the best Netflix has to offer but it is refreshing to have another series from South Africa. It is a shame we don't get more series from this interesting country... or indeed the wider continent of Africa. The story is solid and provides plenty of tension and excitement. The cast is pretty good; most obviously Arnold Vosloo as Daan. The end of the sixth episode answered some questions but raised others; hopefully an indication that more is planned. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of crime dramas looking for a less cliché location.

These comments are based on watching the series in Afrikaans with English subtitles.

This series was all over the place in terms of having many subplots that just popped up at random. The overarching storyline was interesting and well developed but was constantly being interrupted. If streamlined this could have been a much better show. Still decent acting and a fairly high production value.

Now this section is dedicated to IMDb. I'm making this a very, very, very, very long review because of the new rule established for review character length, courtesy of the IMDb staff. I'm glad to report that you can absolutely trust that this review is credible and relevant based solely on the fact that it contains at least 600 characters.

I really wanted to but was unable to enjoy. I have always been an Arnold Voslos fan and was hoping for some aging star magic(Like James Spader in Blacklist). But alas, this was not it.

First, there is background music playing in all scenes and often it is distracting and at times downright awful. Even the simplest of scenes will have a music/or humming sound. Other scenes will have a drama moment with a loud electronic background that does not fit the mood at at all

Protagonist did well, but most of the other actors played their character over-the-top, almost appearing cartoonish and unintentionally humorous.

Editing, all over the place. This shift from scene to scene, often without context was jarring. It slowed up a bit in the later episodes, but still moved around making it hard to follow.

It was fantastic to see so many local talents on a Netflix show! Incredibly proud of the many talented SA actors. I loved the storyline, the quality of the shots, and the production. Seeing Arnold Vosloo and Diaan Lawerson together on screen was definitely a match made in heaven. It was also heartwarming to have music from local artists featured in the series. Very excited to see more of Ludik! The only critique I have is that it was a relatively short season. However, that's understandable, since it's testing the international market. All in all, it was an enjoyable, action-filled watch with many interesting characters. It was also fantastic to see my home language, Afrikaans, featured on Netflix. I hope this gives the creative production scene in SA the boost it deserves, particularly after Covid.