Citadel: Honey Bunny

Citadel Honey bunny is a captivating spy thriller that follows the high-stakes missions of two elite agents, Honey and Bunny, as they navigate the dangerous world of a secretive spy agency in the early 1990s. Blending action, suspense, romance, humor, and emotional depth, this series strikes a great balance across its six episodes.

The pacing is tight and consistent, with each episode delivering a mix of adrenaline-pumping action and poignant moments that keep you invested. The show shines through a strong screenplay and dynamic character development, which elevate its otherwise simple premise.

Raj and DK have expertly crafted a gripping experience, turning what could have been a straightforward story into a thoroughly engaging narrative. The action sequences are particularly impressive-Varun and Samantha bring their A-game to the high-octane scenes, while the young Nadia (played by the talented child actress) steals the show in every frame. Kay Kay Menon, as always, delivers a standout performance and never misses the mark.

While a few plot points and character arcs could have been more fleshed out, Citadel makes up for it with its stunning action, solid performances, and cinematic flair. Overall, it's an exciting and well-executed show that makes for a binge-worthy watch.

7/10.

Watched it in one go last night but that does not mean it's good. It is such a clichéd spy TV show that there are so many times I felt that it should have been made in the years 1992 or 2000 where this story jumps back and forth. Why do the makers of Indian movies or TV feel the need to display a big year sign every time a story timeline transition happens? The audiences are presumed to be naive every time a 1992 or a 2000 appears on the screen in my opinion (and trust me it appears hundreds if not thousands of times). All I am saying is there are some really cool ways that certain filmmakers use to demonstrate this transition. One such method could have been to switch from the cameras available in 1992 and 2000 respectively at the start of this transition and then fade it out but who am I to give suggestions. It really does a good job when the leads are shown as children and you can see the transitions and storytelling becomes completely different from what we see in this back and forth "in your face, you are stupid" banners for 1992 and 2000.

As the title of this review says, expected a lot better from Raj & DK especially due to the fact that a story which could be a 2 hour movie is dragged to almost 6 hours to match the continuity of other series in the same universe.

Talking about the performances now. Varun Dhawan and the little girl are standout performers for me and in a parallel universe it would be so much fun to actually watch both of them in a father daughter spy duo. Samantha tries her best to fit into the character and shines in the earlier episodes of this series with her acting but her overall appearance and close up shots of "went under the knife giveaways" is somewhat irritating and not to mention her accent keeps on changing from being 'normal' in some places and then switching back to a southern forced accent (both Hindi and English) which, I assume, was added for fun elements but falls flat according to me.

Overall it is a big, stretched spy story filled with lot of usual cr*p. As this review is almost as long, boring and probably as meaningless as this show by now, I will still try to highlight some of the things that make it hard to watch.

• Why do shooters have to come close to the main actors in a fight sequence even though they are carrying semi automatic guns?

• None of the supposed bad guys on the wrong side of the storyline seem to have any sort of tactical training. They all come in SUVs, get out of it and literally start walking towards two people shooting at them. I mean they are supposed to be highly trained agents of a legit organisation.

• The lead actress is abducted in the opening sequences of the film and left with her pager in her pocket while still being in the boot of the car. Which she uses to communicate with her daughter.

• You will not see a single cop in the series (maybe there were some but my mind just did not process them being there :P). This has been shot in India and Siberia and seems the cops are out on a holiday while people are ransacking a village or a hotel or even the streets of big cities in both the countries.

I can go on with these goofs as I expected probably way too much from this series but it falls flat for me. Probably the makers did not get the freedom from the studio which is being loathed about in the social media after all. We are a long way from creating a show such as "Bodyguard" or "Slow Horses" but it is a start at least.

Didn't expect this from Raj and dk.

This is the worst work done by them. I have watched countless movies and webseries in my lifetime and in my opinion this is just an average series.

There are only a few positive aspects of this series.

1. The cinematography of this series is nicely done.(especially in the last episode) 2. All the actors have done a great job. (But sometimes in Samantha's dialogue and expression the situation doesn't fit completely,maybe it's because of her native language is not hindi) 3. The BGM of the entire series is nicely composed. It fits with the situation.

Now let's talk about negative aspects of the movie.

1. I don't know why but everytime when the story goes back and forth (1992 and 2000) they display the year everytime and I don't quite like it. They should have themed the series according to the years displayed. For example they could have given a slight dark gray themed in the year 1992 so it wouldn't be necessary to tell each and every time the years that are being showed.

2. The overall storyline of the series is very average and predictable in my opinion.

3. Sometimes the series goes out of the track it doesn't focu on the story. There are lots of scenes that wouldn't impact the overall story even if they weren't in the series.

4. In my opinion this series could have been a 2 and a half hrs movie instead of a 5 hrs series. The story could have been completed in 2 hrs there's nothing extra to make a series about it.

Honestly the another series of this franchise Citadel:Diana was also below average series.

5. There are alot of parts where the makers doesn't showcase things which could be impactful in the series.

Summary: This is an average series if you want to watch it then it's upon you. If you think you can watch a 5hrs series which could have been a 2hrs movie then go ahead. But if you don't want to waste your 5 hrs then I don't recommend watching it.

The final question is: Is it worth watching?

In my opinion No.

Now that I've watched all three of the Citadel series--American, Italian, and Indian--I can compare them to each other, which I don't think is the original idea, but I'll do it anyway. But, that comes later.

Anyway, Citadel: Honey Bunny is a difficult six-parter to work your way through, even though it had some pretty good action sequences. But, the story is so lame and the actors are not engaging enough at bringing their characters to life or to make me want to care. The kid was the best actor to watch.

Now, to the comparison. Of the three installments, and much to my surprise, I'm enjoying the Italian, "Diana" the best. In fact, I've watched it several times. Though it lacked great action ("Honey Bunny" wins the Action prize), the "Diana" episodes draw you in, make you care about what happens to the characters--and Italy has never been more beautiful. Finally, the original "Citadel" comes in second because of it's clever plot twist, and the best acting cast of the three.

Final scores:

Diana = A- Citadel = B Honey Bunny = C+

One of the most awaited series of 2024 by Raj & DK is finally streaming on Prime Video. Clearly this one beats the previous shows of the Franchise.

The series excels in terms of action sequences and twists in the storyline. The show consists of 6eps, for which this doesn't seem to be boring. This series has its drawbacks but still it's worth watching. There wasn't a need for ending it in a cliffhanger for S2 which could've been avoided. This has the same vibe of every other works of Raj & DK but somehow things looked scratchy in between. I mean look at their previous works, be it Farzi, Family Man or Guns & Gulaabs each time they proved their worth with their creativity and engaging plot but this time things didn't go too well which ended up being a one time watch. Varun, Samantha and Kay Kay Menon sir were good in their respective roles.

Overall a decent series to binge-watch this weekend which would take nearly 4-5hrs.

3/5.