Cape Town

An enjoyable "who-done-it" series with a range of plots and sub plots to make the story interesting. Pity about the very poor South African accents by Boris Kodjoe (Santus Snook) and Trond Espen Seim (Mat Joubert). Often I could not understand what they were saying. South Africa is such a melting pot of accents, they could have easily woven their true accents into the ancestor of their characters leaving the audience with a more authentic experience. The local talent was most enjoyable and authentic in the range of characters found in South Africa. Deon Meyer writes entertaining stories that depict many aspects of South African life.

I'm a fan of Trond Espen Seim and really like his performance as Mat Joubert. The frustration and his inner conflict are very well acted and make me believe the pain he is going through. I've seen him in Varg Veum and was caught by his acting right away. He is even better now in Cape Town! I also really enjoyed the performance of Boris Kodjoe, who I haven't seen in any film or TV series before. The uneven couple works quite good. Sanctus Snook, who is an elite cop, very straight and correct, on the one side and Mat Joubert, who has a drinking problem, is overweight and not so correct, on the other side. The series is a well known and proved crime concept and even though the first episode is a bit slow, I got hooked in the second episode. The cliffhanger at the end of that second episode made me jump right into the next one and enjoy the rest of the series. All in all, a good and entertaining crime show with suspense, action and some funny lines.

Cape Town has cleverly incorporates the tone and intrigue of Nordic noir and then drenches it in African light. The cinematography is gorgeous and the series stands up well against far more expensive Hollywood productions. Trond Espen Seims was well chosen as MAT Joubert despite the challenges of the South African accent and he deftly navigates the brutal physicality of the character in stark contrast to his internal turmoil and fragile emotional state. Cape Town's strength is in character detail and care has been taken in every supporting role. This is an ambitious series which gets stronger with each episode. Lovers of clever crime stories and intriguing characters will find much to enjoy.

Just started streaming On Prime. 4 (2 out of 5) star- from minute to minute it is boring. Not the worse thing I've seen lately. but somehow, it just doesn't hold my interest. Again, sex trafficking. important but tired plot. and a serial killer. comments on Norwegian actor Selms poor S. Africa Accent- for me the pinched English sounds, I am not that familiar with regional accents. I never understand why when there are great local actors, they insist on hiring English language 1st (not true here) try to do other accents which are so divergent- if I see one more English Irish Scottish Aussie playing an American.... OK so I am a Hugh Laurie fan, but still. There's talent in South Africa ( District 9) but back to this. Cliché hard drinking smoking grief stricken heart broken cop. If he had high cholesterol and high blood pressure (that can come with age over 45, or genetic) smoking and drinking would kill him off soon.

I have to say that I was absolutely bound by this new crime mini-series. Of course it is not reinventing the wheel, but it tells an exciting story in a very dynamic way. There are several plot lines / crime cases connected, and the suspense is increasing bit by bit until the surprising finale, when all the loose ends come together. Maybe a bit conventional at some points, but quite entertaining! The drinking and overweight police captain, mourning after his dead wife, surely is a well-known character in the crime genre. Anyway, I think the role is very well interpreted by Seim, who gives it all the pessimism and self-doubts it needs. I really liked the various characters and the multiculti cast - especially the Polish Dorocinski playing the junkie coming clean. The hair and make-up stylists may have overdone their work a bit with the female actors… you won't see these loads of eyeshadow and rouge in a U.S. or European series. The city of Cape Town looks stunning in this show and the camera work is really high-quality! Well done altogether.