Cape Town

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.

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.

As a huge fan of Scandinavian crime I came across this show starring Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. What struck me right away was the prototypical basic constellation I've seen so many times before in Swedish or Danish crime series: the broken and guilt-ridden investigator who has to delve into the past in order to not only solve his current case, but to restore his reputation and regain his original strength as a detective. This concept is neither new nor very exiting, but it works just fine. What sets this show apart from Scandinavian ones is the exotic and beautiful setting of Cape Town. DoP Florian Schilling does a great job photographing this dream destination. The actors' performance, however, is less convincing. I see why the creators chose Seim: in his physique, he just IS Mat Joubert. Sad, tired, out of shape – but charismatic. Unfortunately, his Norwegian accent is very obvious and I found it to be quite irritating. Boris Kodjoe, by contrast, masters the challenge of the foreign accent pretty well. Shame that his range as an actor is quite limited. Nevertheless, I'd recommend watching CAPE TOWN for its high production value, its unique atmosphere and its solid narrative.

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.

A star rating of 7 at this time?? How can this be? I ask. Cape Town is possibly the worst miniseries I have ever watched, and a huge disappointment for me, as a big fan of all Deon Meyer's novels. I wrongly believed that a series based on one of his books could not fail. I was also looking forward to seeing a South African offering. If Cape Town is any benchmark, their television industry needs another 50 years of evolution.

I have been sitting here trying to find some redeeming feature and/or something positive to say. Alas I can't! (Other than that the two lead actors were very easy on the eye.) In terms of production, some things were JUST adequate, nothing whatsoever was done well. Somewhat surprisingly, very little use was made of the beautiful Cape scenery.

Overall the acting was stiff and amateurish; one or two of the female actors gave creditable performances, but not one of the men was believable. As for the accents of the two non-South African lead actors...these were not even close to an attuned ear. Boris Kodjoe was significantly better at everything than his Norwegian partner, Seim. My view is that South African actors would have been a far better choice.

I don't recall the book being so difficult to follow. As a TV story, it's just too convoluted to work. The producers could have (and should have) left out half the pretty much irrelevant subplots, which did nothing more than distract and confuse.

Anyway, no point analysing it any further...it just sucked. I hope Deon Meyer doesn't let this production team anywhere NEAR his Benny Griessel novels.