papageno-66704

Based on Deon Meyer's novel "Dead before Dying", this series should have had enough going for it to come out tops. Unfortunately due to a rather disastrous screen-play and some extremely amateur acting it has become a prime belly flopper. The two actors in the main roles are Norwegian and Austrian. Both attempt to imitate South African accents (and very red-necked ones too). Kodjoe is probably more successful but Seim never manages to get rid of his Norwegian accent and his line about growing up in Goodwood was just not credible. Both of them seemed to be in the wrong country, wrong series. And that is where the credibility issue of this series begins and falls. Continuity in the camera work was another problem. Constant interpolation of random shots of areas in and around Cape Town were constantly thrown in for no reason and only served to make this confused screen-play even more nonsensical. Most of the South African acting is awfully staid and artificial (the embarrassing scene with the neighbors commenting on Drew Wilson's homosexuality was a typical example). Good camera work (Cape Town is always wonderful to look at) but the screen play is confused, drawn out and suspense is almost non-existent.