Summary
Ludik is hardly the next big series, but as a watchlist addition, it has all the charisma, action, and story to be worth the viewer’s time.
This review of the Netflix series Ludik season 1 does not contain spoilers.
READ: 5 Reasons to Watch Ludik.
I love a story of a conflicted criminal businessman trying to confront a more significant problem created by their corruption.
In this South African series, Daan Ludik (played by Arnold Vosloo) is a businessman that has come from nothing yet has managed to build an empire. He’s the face of a furniture business and has gained fame due to his entrepreneurial flare. But Daan Ludik is more than a furniture salesman turned CEO of an empire. He’s also a secret diamond smuggler.
When a South African mafia learns of this, they kidnap one of Daan’s family members. To ensure the safety of his family member, Daan is forced to use his furniture business to transport guns into Central Africa. His personal and business life is at risk, and he has to use his resources, old and new allies, and personal relationships to prevent losing his family, dying, or receiving jail time. He also sees this as an opportunity to expand his empire. Money speaks.
The premise sells itself for what it is. Arnold Vosloo plays an excellent, charismatic businessman that is a hard negotiator. With a Liam Neeson-esque voice, Netflix’s Ludik is everything you want from a crime drama. He’s a villain, surmounted by another villain, making it for an intriguing six chapters.
The drama is on-the-nose, and the plot of the series is not as intricate as what it perpetrates, but a real sense of entertainment value runs through the story’s veins. Netflix’s marketing strategy must be questioned when the overflow of library releases overlooks a series like Ludik. This series is a stakes raiser, wrapped with some formidable yet surface-level characters that keep the audience engaged.
And applause must be aimed at the writing team; while not groundbreaking, Ludik keeps pace with the story. At six episodes, there’s an expectation that the story has to land twists at the opportune time but not too condensed to become absurd. The South African series never delves into the wild and stays sensible with the concept.
Ludik is hardly the next big series, but as a watchlist addition, it has all the charisma, action, and story to be worth the viewer’s time.
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