Citadel

Some great action sequences and very charismatic stars go a long way, but that might not be enough to anchor the sprawling franchise Amazon is so ambitiously building.

None of it makes any sense. But sense can be overrated. Sometimes mindless stupidity is fun.

If you’re expecting anything more than fast-faced, energetic, exciting breakneck espionage action on a grandiose scale, you may be left somewhere between disappointed and underwhelmed. For everyone else; Citadel is borderline camp, precariously cheesy, and a whole lot of fun.

Not the world-changing mega-show Amazon might have wanted, but neither is it a total misfire. Imagine an action-packed Owen Wilson spy comedy without Owen Wilson (or excessive comedy) and you won’t be too far from the mark.

This looks awfully like Madden submitting his showreel to Barbara Broccoli. One dashing ski sequence in episode three is a shameless Pierce Brosnan tribute. But all things nowadays being equal, it could just as easily be Chopra Jonas’s audition to play Bond too.

Prime Video broke the bank (a wowza $300 million) on this high-octane action series without an original thought in its empty head. But you might not notice given the sexual sparks flying between Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas as amnesiac spies on a zippy thrill ride.

You can’t accuse it of being slow. Conversation is just a short bridge to the next bout of action, which tends to be brutal in the way the kids, with their video games and comic books and Quentin Tarantino movies, like it these days. (Accordingly, “Citadel” may or may not be your idea of fun.) Events are predictably unpredictable.

So far, it isn’t good enough to stick with for pure entertainment or bad enough to require rubbernecking.

“Citadel” isn’t exactly special. It’s a glossed-up action series with gadgets and twists and spectacle, but its conventional to its core.

While Citadel might check an algorithm’s boxes, it fails at being distinctive enough to linger in the memory.

“The Citadel” is formulaic and busy — splashy — yet still manages to be kind of dull.

“Citadel” has it all backward—it's entertainment that's not made for those who watch for the plot, and yet is packed with it, at the detriment of its chance to be dumb fun.

Unfortunately, in being so determined to place it among the classic spy stories, Citadel brings nothing new and, slightly ironically considering the subject material, struggles to find its own identity. The script is the biggest issue, with Chopra and Madden's scenes together quickly becoming grating as their characters attempt to out-quip each other.