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.
17 Reviews
Exciting crime drama with a few flaws
nova151623 August 2016
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.
Better than a lot of the reviews posted !!
Vindelander3 November 2019
There are some really terrible reviews for this series and I don't think it's at all bad. The story is good, acting ok without being memorable and locations/filming pretty good.
All in all definitely a 7 in my view. The comments about bad accents I simply don't understand. It's South Africa for god's sake. What do they expect ?!
All in all definitely a 7 in my view. The comments about bad accents I simply don't understand. It's South Africa for god's sake. What do they expect ?!
Great Production Value and Solid Narrative vs. Mediocre Acting
netflixxjoe19 September 2016
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.
Absolutely ABYSMAL
hoods707011 August 2016
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.
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.
Nordic noir sensibility in the startling African sun - Cape Town is a clever psychological thriller
joseph-881-92643216 March 2017
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.
Excruciatingly bad
elananewman12 October 2018
This must rank as one of the worst series on Netflix, not that I could get beyond the first episode replete as it was with appalling accents, shallow characterisations, and daft looking girls wandering around in hideous sequinned frocks that might have been worn in Bapsfontein in the 1960s. For an ex-pat, not even the sumptuous shots of Cape Town's incomparable landscapes, could compensate for this utter drivel.
Cool TV series. Hope Mat Joubert will solve more crimes.
pd71131 August 2016
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.
Missed opportunity
geert_langendorff18 October 2018
The wonderful scenery, situated in and around Cape Town, couldn't make up for the rather shaky plot, flat characters and the inept actors. South Africa has plenty of talent on offer but the directors decided to pick a German/Norwegian cast. Their (thick) European accents spoilt the series from the word go. Just about managed to finish the first episode... A pity and foremost a missed opportunity.
Slow moving and lousy script.
papageno-6670411 July 2016
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.
Exciting and suspenseful - a series to keep you guessing.
desakoz17 March 2017
Cape Town has a wealth of characters and cross plots that requires you to pay attention. The seemingly divergent stories all come together for an exciting finale. The characters are well drawn and detailed, right down to the background actors. Cape Town itself is a major visual draw card and I loved the quick shots around the cape that open each scene. Worth watching.
This series is so bad, its embarrassing
lunalight-0361819 October 2016
I wonder if Deon Meyer actually had anything to do with this series? He's a brilliant author and I love his work. This series does his body of work no justice whatsoever : the characters are hideously miscast,the storyline is erratic, and it's quite excruciating to watch. A waste of money to produce and a waste of time to watch.
Fake or exaggerated accents abound, the characters are overworked to the point of caricature. Whose idea was it to cast Continental actors? A South African author, South African location, a South African talent agent, filmed in South Africa....and we have a bunch of Germans trying very hard to sound like South Africans but making a total hash of it.
Very very sad, and no credit to Deon Meyer's work at all. 😣
Fake or exaggerated accents abound, the characters are overworked to the point of caricature. Whose idea was it to cast Continental actors? A South African author, South African location, a South African talent agent, filmed in South Africa....and we have a bunch of Germans trying very hard to sound like South Africans but making a total hash of it.
Very very sad, and no credit to Deon Meyer's work at all. 😣
Awkward at times but ultimately intriguing
daggersineyes20 March 2024
This is a mixed bag. Great production & fascinating dark story line & the local characters were fantastic. Some of the acting is less than stellar & more could have been made of the setting but it doesnt really matter. The main issue is the fake South African accents that render the dialogue almost unintelligible at times. It has other flaws but the story is good & production & unique location carry it through. Well worth watching and it's a shame it didnt keep going because I feel it was getting better each episode. Apparently my review is too short and I have to keep writing but I really dont have any more to say.,
i wanted to like this better
braquecubism2 October 2019
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.
Triply bad
SeriouslyMike28 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Give this thing a pass. First, it's bad in itself, despite having the iconic South African character actor Arnold Vosloo as the villain and the star of Norwegian crime series "Varg Veum", Trond Espen Seim, as the protagonist. They pointlessly wander around, Seim forced to spout clichéd "antisocial jerk" lines at whoever's available, mostly Boris Kodjoe's Snook, and Vosloo being pretty much nonexistent. The rest of the cast isn't much better, if not outright worse, with Marcin Dorocinski's Coolidge wandering around hungover and Isolda Dychauk's Irina being nothing more than swimsuit-clad eye candy. And to add insult to injury, even the quality of the camera work itself tanks for the last two episodes, the scene of human trafficking/murder investigation being shut down in episode 5 being particularly painful to watch. Second, it's a bad adaptation of the source material. The original A-plot involving the Mauser Killer was mangled to shoehorn Arnold Vosloo's Robin van Rees, a character not present in the book, as the mastermind behind the Killer's roaring rampage of revenge, despite leaving the most important detail of said rampage untouched. Worse yet, the bunch of nonsensical B-plots were tacked on instead of the book's bank robberies, and awkwardly tied into the main story, just to make Vosloo's villain even more villainous, and cartoonishly so. Third, the source material is a bad knockoff of the 1983 Clint Eastwood vehicle "Sudden Impact". That in itself should have made the decision to film it questionable, even twenty years after publication and over thirty since "Sudden Impact" premiered, if only for the shocking lack of originality. Seriously, you might want to watch "Sudden Impact" instead.
Shockingly bad
laduqesa1 March 2023
The accents! Dear god. Aren't there South African actors who could play a convincing part? What we got was a German and a Norwegian trying to imitate a local accent and failing spectacularly. They weren't the only actors not to be local and each and every was risibly bad at saying their lines. In fact, the local actors weren't much better. The director had chosen to get the cast to speak in portentous, deliberate tones even during action sequences. This made watching like wading through glue.
As for the plot, it was ludicrous. I've never read the author whose work had been adapted but I can't believe for a second that his success was founded on the déroulement of a story such as this.
Villains were wicked, cops had tragic lives, camerawork was shoddy. Mr Big had tentacles everywhere and seemed all-knowing and all-seeing. Nonetheless the wicker baskets all came to a grisly end with our hotshot cops seemingly powerless to work out what was happening and why.
As soon as the confession of having been raped came out, it was as plain as a pikestaff what had been going on. However, supercop Mat didn't twig. It took Lt Snook to ride to the rescue.
If you have to pay for this, just don't. If you can get it for free, flick through for a laugh.
As for the plot, it was ludicrous. I've never read the author whose work had been adapted but I can't believe for a second that his success was founded on the déroulement of a story such as this.
Villains were wicked, cops had tragic lives, camerawork was shoddy. Mr Big had tentacles everywhere and seemed all-knowing and all-seeing. Nonetheless the wicker baskets all came to a grisly end with our hotshot cops seemingly powerless to work out what was happening and why.
As soon as the confession of having been raped came out, it was as plain as a pikestaff what had been going on. However, supercop Mat didn't twig. It took Lt Snook to ride to the rescue.
If you have to pay for this, just don't. If you can get it for free, flick through for a laugh.
Miss
vus297 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I so wanted to enjoy this "police drama" or mini series, i still don't know how to classify. After watching each episode of this 6 part drama countless times because it is so good at inducing sleep, I finally deduced what i think it was supposed to be about.
2 detective, 1 has a drink problem, his wife was murdered/ suicide??? and his sister raped. 2nd detective has a brother out on probation who has a little daughter. After that is a haze of girls being murdered, German stasi, south African white gangsters and a female therapist and something about mind control. This drama did cure my insomnia because i would start watching and episode and 10 minutes later i am asleep. It is slow, predictable, contrived and downright boring that if it wasn't so good at inducing sleep i would have abandoned it by the second episode.
Maybe it is directed at white south africans or those from Cape town? Maybe it is dubbed from Afrikaans and a lot, especially the humour has been lost in translation? There is a big finale in the 6th episode when all is revealed. I thank this series for giving me a few good nights.
2 detective, 1 has a drink problem, his wife was murdered/ suicide??? and his sister raped. 2nd detective has a brother out on probation who has a little daughter. After that is a haze of girls being murdered, German stasi, south African white gangsters and a female therapist and something about mind control. This drama did cure my insomnia because i would start watching and episode and 10 minutes later i am asleep. It is slow, predictable, contrived and downright boring that if it wasn't so good at inducing sleep i would have abandoned it by the second episode.
Maybe it is directed at white south africans or those from Cape town? Maybe it is dubbed from Afrikaans and a lot, especially the humour has been lost in translation? There is a big finale in the 6th episode when all is revealed. I thank this series for giving me a few good nights.
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