What is it about?
Eight years ago, the citadel fell. An international, independent spy agency—charged with everyone’s safety and security—has been brought down by agents of Manticore, a powerful syndicate pulling the strings from behind the scenes. After the fall of the Citadel, elite operatives Mason Kane and Nadia Singh had their memories erased as they briefly escaped.
From then on, they lived under new identities, ignoring their past. Until one night, when Mason is found by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick, who desperately needs his help to stop the Manticore from establishing a New World Order. Mason reunites with his former partner, Nadia, and the two spies embark on a mission that takes them around the world to stop Manticore’s actions.
who is he with
He could be the new James Bond, and he proves it in The Citadel, where he plays a special spy. Richard Madden, Robb Stark After the Game of Thrones series, a lot has changed. After proving himself in the Bodygard genre, he is one of the headliners this time along with Priyanka Chopra and Jonah.
The Indian actor, a Bollywood superstar, proves to us that he is not just there to do extras by performing quality stunts. Stanley Tucci, who plays Q or Jerry like in Totally Spies, is also part of the cast along with Leslie Manville.
Is it worth seeing?
Prime Video is betting big on Citadel, its new spy series that hides a bigger ambition. The platform gave carte blanche to the Russo brothers (The Avengers), two blockbuster regulars, to serve as executive producers.
We keep its colossal budget of $235 million, making it the second-highest-grossing series of all time behind The Rings of Power ($465 million) — produced by the same platform.
But what’s less well known is that some of that money went into filming after part of the creative team went on the road. So how does it play out on screen?
We expected more from Citadel, especially after seeing the trailer and its two minutes of pure adrenaline. The opening scene – featuring the two heroes and the powers that be – sets the tone: we witness a particularly enjoyable hand-to-hand fight between Madden and the antagonist, and a showdown with Manticore agents. A train accident scene closes this first appetizer.
We understand that the plot of the series will be very classic and it will not revolutionize the espionage genre.
Unfortunately, form is far from saving substance. The series, which wants to be a kind of James Bond on the small screen, is sorely lacking in ambition in terms of its realization. The abuse of the green background – not always well placed – and its lack of identity will not allow Citadel to stand out from other products of this genre.
Still, we highlight the quality of the choreography that Chopra Jonas and Madden have been training hard for. The former also achieved 80% of stunts and should not be ashamed of his performance.
Despite all that, The Citadel remains entertaining enough to make us want to stick around for episodes. With a short but effective format of 6×40 minutes, we will intervene in the game. The script spills information about the characters’ pasts and leaves us wondering if we want to know more. But we’ll have to be patient for that, as Prime Video puts two episodes online this Friday, then continues to air at a weekly pace.
Note that with Citadel, Prime Video is going to launch an international franchise with several spin-offs (Indian, Italian, etc.). An interesting and attractive project on paper, but the result will be or not.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
