Citadel: Honey Bunny Review: Samantha Steals The Show!

Watch her in hand-to-hand combat, wielding guns, firing weapons and breaking bones like a beast in some of the sleekly done one-take sequences.
She also owns some emotionally-charged moments within the same dramatic beat, observes Mayur Sanap.

The most definitive about Citadel: Honey Bunny, the Indian spin-off of Citadel, is that it fares much better than the previous two entries in the massive global franchise that flagged off last year.

Having proven their mettle in the Indian streaming space, Raj & DK helm this show that is emotionally far more engaging than the Italian counterpart Citadel: Diana and narratively more compelling than the OG American show that starred Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

The basic framework here is the same: Incredibly attractive lead stars, cool spycraft, fast-paced action, tech wizardry -- all packaged in a non-fussy, entertaining plot.

And despite this razzmatazz, Honey Bunny stumbles at the writing level, spinning a generic spy yarn that eventually devolves into all sorts of clichés.

The story plays out between two timelines 1992 and 2000 as the plot jumps back and forth to create a sense of mystery surrounding its characters.

We see the origins of Honey and Bunny, played by Samantha and Varun, in the lengthy flashbacks. They are buddies from work as they navigate their careers in 1990s Bollywood.

Honey is a struggling artist finding it difficult to fend for herself due to her stagnant career.

Bunny is a stuntman, well-known for his daredevilry on film sets.

But there's more to Bunny.

He is a secret agent in disguise of an agency spearheaded by Vishwa (Kay Kay Menon).

Seeing Honey's breakdown due to a miserable career, Bunny trains and recruits her as a spy, much to Vishwa's dismay.

Soon, both set off on a deadly mission on Vishwa's order to track down and steal a device called Armada, a new-age technology that will enable a potentially dangerous surveillance system around the world.

The mission goes awry and the revelations create a rift between Honey and Bunny that sets them on their separate ways.

Eight years later, Honey is living in a hideaway with her daughter Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar), but her murky past catches up with her as she finds herself pursued by Vishwa's agents.

Written by Raj & DK with their frequent collaborator Sita R Menon, Honey Bunny is essentially an ill-fated love story in the guise of an espionage thriller. The story is intricate in the moment but when you put it all together later, it's rather simple.

Despite a few moments of tense intrigue, the lumbering pace in the first three episodes drags the show with uninteresting twists.

The plot thickens by the end of the fourth episode allowing the narrative to take flight.

The drama that progresses is steeped with the clashing of rival agencies, deep-rooted espionage and betrayal. Adding to that is the palpable chemistry and truth-digging conversation between the two leads, which puts the focus back on this central relationship. Their twisty dynamic holds your attention as two people who were once in love and probably still are in love.

There are scenes deliberately truncated to control the timing of every reveal. As viewers, we know Honey is holding secrets. But some pivotal details are kept concealed until the moment when they will have the best impact.

This is where the drama and action truly gel with each other giving us a fleeting view of its smart screenplay.

Samantha remains a relentless force on the show.

At one point, a character says about her, 'Don't underestimate her, bohot tedhi cheez hain (she's a sly one).'

She brings fourth the flaming and ferocious side of her character in the show's most well-written part.

Watch her in hand-to-hand combat, wielding guns, firing weapons and breaking bones like a beast in some of the sleekly done one-take sequences. She also owns some emotionally-charged moments within the same dramatic beat.

In comparison, Varun has a performative edge to his act as if he is aware that he is in a big-budget action show.

His Bunny is smart and aggressively headstrong, sometimes even careless but with grit and guts. But despite his sincere efforts, the actor is unconvincing in bearing out those different facets.

What's surprising is that we don't have any striking character from the supporting cast that usually marks as a standout in the Raj & DK production. Think of Bhuvan Arora in Farzi or Sharib Hashmi in The Family Man.

The effort is there with Soham Majumdar's geeky techie Ludo and Shivankit Singh Parihar as loyal associate Chacko but the actors can't rise above their cardboard characters that remain functional at best.

The same goes for Saqib Saleem whose menacing agent is cut-and-paste of something we have seen countless times before.

Ultimately, Citadel: Honey Bunny ends up an underwhelming thriller that serves nothing particularly fresh. Worse, it leaves us at a weak pay-off where the Citadel universe would still struggle.

Citadel: Honey Bunny streams on Amazon Prime Video.