Television Review | The smooth agent series Citadel is building an international franchise model around itself

Culture|Television review

Amazon-series Citadel wants to be a Bond movie. It specifically imitates newer ones Bondswhere the agent is also able to experience love and longing. Citadel however, falls behind its role model, especially in emotional struggles.

Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) are agents of the Citadel organization and former lovers who smoke a bag of uranium on a luxury train in the Italian Alps. They are also being bullied. A violent confrontation ensues, with bodies piling up and ending in an explosion.

A six-piece the beginning of the series is shiny action. Smooth camera work takes you to the middle of the struggles. The stylized milieu and the makeup added in post-production, on the other hand, make the venue look unreal.

Of course, realism is not sought anyway. Perhaps the furthest from that is the starting point of the Citadel organization: it does not work under any government authority but is “loyal only to the safety of all people”. The international criminal organization Manticore is up against.

The actual story begins eight years after the train events. Kane and Sinh have lost their memories – a nod to another fictional agent, Jason Bourne. However, they dream of each other.

Agents’ old contact (Stanley Tucci) finds Kane, who finds Sin. While Manticore’s machinations force the pair back into agency work, flashbacks of their past also begin.

Although both Madden and Chopra Jonas have excelled in the field of big entertainment, for example in series Game of Thrones and Quantico, the beating of the main characters bothers me. Even a daring approach seems mostly like intruding into another’s personal space.

Based on the first three episodes, the intense rhythm of the narrative cannot fit a sexy swing.

They created the series Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh and David Weil. Appelbaum has been writing, for example Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), Oh has a past with TV series, and Weil has created, among others, the series Hunters (2020–2023).

A trio resumes notwithstanding The Citadel the producer-duo who led the project is advertised Anthony and Joe Russo with names. As directors, they have behind them numerous Marvel films, including the most profitable, Avengers: Endgame (2019). They want to make a big operational expenditure even now, as big as the TV screen can fit.

Citadel packs stuff inside like a sleazy market seller. On top of the action and romance comes lame humor and beautiful landscapes, which have been filmed in different parts of the world.

Amount does not replace quality, but you get even more quantity. From the Citadel is to build a main story around which local side stories can be made. One spin-off series has already been filmed in Italy, and one is in production in India.

Citadel doesn’t set a new standard for agent entertainment, but might do so for franchise television.

Citadel, Prime Video. (K16)