Ludik

I wish I knew there was a choice in watching this in Afrikaan and not the horrid choice that netflix made for me . The English compilation/dubbing, I do not know if its the right word, was awful. The sound was AWFUL.

This is the second time that happens .The first one I tried to watch a German show and the actors spoke English, so I knew that something was off. But this time I honestly didn't suspect anything.

Every language is unique and beautiful and I prefer to listen to the original and read subtitles.

I give an extra point for that mistake ,for which I blame netflix I liked the story, the pace, the characters. It kept me interested and it was enjoyable.

Great potential. Poor delivery.

It starts off with a great premise but over-acting and hamming by most of the cast ruins what could have been a great series.

Arnold Vosloo does a good job but the rest of the actors are many classes below.

The storyline seems to go around in circles too. I am not holding out hope for a second season. I really hope though that the South African TV industry starts to do better and better.

The flashbacks to Daan's childhood seem to serve no purpose except to satisfy some whim of the director. The music is good but overwhelms the dialog and makes it hard to follow.

There are a lot of details which could made this production better, almost in photography and direction, its just the details like the title of the chapter hidden in a scene of the start, just medicore, or the transformation of the indentity of some protagonist. Actors and the plot of the film are nice, just for that u deserve waste ur time in the six chapter of this serie if u are a series eater, in the other hand, if u havent too much time, there are a lot of series too much better to see.

Other positive thing is that this series is placed on suth africa, and posibility to us to know something knew of this place, if the serie continue, i would like to know something more about that culture.

I am a big fan of Arnold Vosloo. If only the rest of the cast could have lived up to his ability. This could really have been a good show bar two things: appalling soap opera performances and the most awful soundtrack and sound design. I nearly stopped watching because of the dreadful din coming through the speakers. The 3 stars are because I wanted to see how Ludik got out of his dilemmas so it had me hooked in that way, but I confess I did fast forward some scenes with the bad guys. This was a good example of how not to play bad guys: try to look and sound like a bad guy.

The difference between good acting (Vosloo) and soap opera acting (Sean Cameron Michael) is that Vosloo underplays emotions so the viewer can interpret them. Michael shows you everything, all the time and over eggs it like crazy leaving nothing to our interpretation. Anyway, my opinion.

Gave this a chance based only on the trailer. I really enjoyed the story, nicely paced. The set up is good and the framework of the plot promises a taut thriller and for the most part delivers.

Unfortunately we're it falls down is with some of the supporting characters who are one dimensional mad in some instances annoyingly so. The other big issue is the acting. With the exception of Arnold Vosloo and Diann Lawrenson you watch the rest in disbelief that the us is the best South Africa has left to offer. It is very distracting.

Special mention goes to Sean Cameron Michael who is so bad you just can't have any sense of him being a mob boss as no one would take him seriously.

If you can disregard the acting though it's worth a watch.