Cape Town

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.

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.

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.