Citadel Honey Bunny Review: A Visually Delicious Treat with a Predictably Occam’s Razor Plot
The flagship film Citadel: Honey Bunny starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, promises the world-building possibility of the Russo Brothers and the house style of humour and action by Raj & DK. Honey Bunny is a spinoff of the original Citadel featuring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden which, as a spinoff, tries to reach into the origin story of the mysterious spy organization with an Indian twist. Though it shines by its style, action, and high production value, the show fails when bringing in a coherent and gripping storyline.
Plot
Set in dual timelines, 1992 and 2000, Citadel: Honey Bunny follows the story of Rahi Gambhir, aka Bunny (Varun Dhawan), and Hanimandakini, aka Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu). The two come from a secret spy organization led by Baba, played by delightfully sinister Kay Kay Menon, where Bunny works as a Bollywood stuntman by day and an agent by night. She’s a down-on-her-luck actress who ends up eventually on the team of Bunny and soon finds herself swept into espionage and moral murk. Ten years later, in the second timeline, Honey is a single mom running from Bunny, who’s trying desperately to catch up with her before assassins do. Thus, the two together form a series which traces the history of Citadel while giving a glimpse into the lives of the two central characters.
Slick, Stylish, but Predictable
One cannot deny that Honey Bunny has polish. It’s one of the best action-based shows to have emerged from India, having it all–perfection in violence, slyly neat cinematography, and the pulsating score by Aman Pant. The action is very well choreographed by Yannick Ben, Aejaz Gulab, and Dian Hristov, which leaves you wanting to rewind and watch again. But that isn’t enough to make the show more compelling by way of narrative.
The plot is full of good intentions but suffers from predictability. Twists, which should have been startling surprises, are telegraphed well ahead and leave viewers unexcited when they finally happen. It progresses in a by-the-numbers fashion, missing the unexpected turns that one would expect from a show centered on espionage. Raj & DK’s trademark humor is there but forced at many places, as it feels like something added to check the box rather than flow organically from the story.
The Performances
The lead pair, Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, carried the weight of the show well enough. Samantha’s grounding and intensity in each frame, especially in action, did justice to her no-nonsense persona. Varun, on the other hand, initially seemed like the weaker of the two, but then grew into his role as the series progressed. Their chemistry, not electrifying but steady, made their dynamic convincing enough.
Shivankit Singh Parihar is a new name here, but he has done very well, it doesn’t matter whether it’s his earlier work with TVF or the present one. Kay Kay Menon does justice to the film as the complex, yet one-dimensional, antagonist, giving his performance gravitas, but somehow the writing does not do enough justice to make him a layered bad guy by limiting him to being a stereotypical villain.
The Missed Potential
Raj & DK have established their credentials for telling out-of-the-box stories, and Honey Bunny flashes moments of that promise. However, in between emulating a Russo thriller and trying to be an original Raj & DK offering, the series falters badly. For all its intense world, there isn’t much cohesion as the gritty world of Russo finds itself clashing quite jarringly with attempts at playfulness and irreverence by Raj & DK.
Where style chokes on substance, the greatest weakness of the series is an over-reliance on aesthetics, rather than content. In discussions about production value, the story takes a step back, and this truly bears a familiar charge from the parent series Citadel’s shortcomings because Honey Bunny does essentially the same thing, trading depth for sleek action sequences and flashy aesthetics which prostitutes its potential in character development, almost making them action figures instead of individual character journeys the audience can invest in.
Final Thoughts
Citadel: Honey Bunny is a notch better than its predecessor, with more compelling characters and a seamless intersection of parallel timelines. It just doesn’t quite manage to reach the best that the Russo Brothers and Raj & DK set out to achieve. Its flashy presentation and ardent hand-to-hand combat just can’t bridge the cracks in its pedestrian plot as well as it can its disappointing twists and turns.
A high-octane action and espionage fan will have no problem getting his money’s worth, as the series currently streams on Amazon Prime Video. Fans viewing for complicated layers in a thriller might feel a little shortchanged. It’s one that really promises to sizzle but falls short quite a bit of the time, leaving you hungry for some real substance to match its undeniable style.
