Ludik

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.

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.

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.

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.