Prime Video's American spy action thriller, Citadel, created by Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, and David Weil with the Russo Bros, created some buzz when it was in the making, but the output couldn't live up to the expectations. Yes, trade and audiences both had certain expectations from Russo Bros and Prime Video. But as season 1 concluded this week, one could feel no hype about it.The makers spent a huge amount of approx. $300 million on Citadel to make it a global sensation, but have they really got the verdict they were looking for? In overseas, Prime Video and Russo Bros have capitalised their names and garnered a good number of views for the series, but in India, the scenario is completely different.Just imagine, Citadel failing to get enough attention in India despite making so much media and controversial hype before the release. The first ever premiere of Citadel took place in Mumbai, and not just Bollywood but the national media were invited to back-to-back events over a period of two days. Priyanka's controversial statement on her horrible experience in Bollywood took away all the limelight from the Citadel press conference. Hardly anyone was interested in the series or wanted to make Priyanka open up about her sensational statement. She did it. Yes, the fearless PC did it. Only to take more spotlight away from Prime Video, Richard Madden, and Citadel.The media hype remained low, and it never grew up. That's totally understandable for a foreign show in India, but having an ace card like Priyanka wasn't enough? Maybe the language issue? Somewhere, something just went wrong, and things just couldn't click. Most importantly, the content wasn't up to the mark—not even average.
I reviewed Citadel a month ago, when the first two episodes dropped on the opening day. The review can be read here at this LINK. I was lucky enough to see those two episodes on the big screen (IMAX, to be precise), so the experience was slightly better. As my ratings suggest (2.5/5*), it was an average start. But the next episodes have brought it even lower. Citadel kept losing its path and value with each episode, and now the sixth one has been extremely disappointing. If I were to review it now, I would have removed half a star from the original rating for sure.Priyanka Chopra's Nadia looked sexy, glamorous, and spontaneous, and she performed pretty decently too, but the writing went off track. The sexual appeal was a goddamn new and stimulating experience for the Indian masses, who are not familiar with such adult content. The pictures, reels, and GIFs go viral within no time, so you don't need to watch the entire series for them. Something peculiar happened to Richard Madden's character. I don't know why; he just never looked like a smart spy. Now that we have been through so many James Bond and Mission Impossible films, cliches just can't save any project, and Citadel is no exception. Just like so many countless forgettable spy dramas, this one is dumped on the list. Or will we see season 2 rise from the bottom?
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The makers spent a huge amount of approx. $300 million on Citadel to make it a global sensation, but have they really got the verdict they were looking for? In overseas, Prime Video and Russo Bros have capitalised their names and garnered a good number of views for the series, but in India, the scenario is completely different./movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/citadel-rev-2.jpg "publive-image")
Just imagine, Citadel failing to get enough attention in India despite making so much media and controversial hype before the release. The first ever premiere of Citadel took place in Mumbai, and not just Bollywood but the national media were invited to back-to-back events over a period of two days. /movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/citadel-rev-3.jpg "publive-image")
The media hype remained low, and it never grew up. That's totally understandable for a foreign show in India, but having an ace card like Priyanka wasn't enough? Maybe the language issue? Somewhere, something just went wrong, and things just couldn't click. Most importantly, the content wasn't up to the mark—not even average./movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/citadel-rev-4.jpg "publive-image")
Priyanka Chopra's Nadia looked sexy, glamorous, and spontaneous, and she performed pretty decently too, but the writing went off track. The sexual appeal was a goddamn new and stimulating experience for the Indian masses, who are not familiar with such adult content. The pictures, reels, and GIFs go viral within no time, so you don't need to watch the entire series for them. Something peculiar happened to Richard Madden's character. I don't know why; he just never looked like a smart spy. Now that we have been through so many James Bond and Mission Impossible films, cliches just can't save any project, and Citadel is no exception. Just like so many countless forgettable spy dramas, this one is dumped on the list. Or will we see season 2 rise from the bottom?