Citadel's 6 Biggest Problems, From Over-inflated Budget to Copied Storylines

Citadel, Amazon's latest attempt to create a TV series that rivals feature-length movies in production value, had seemingly everything it needed to become a great spy action series.

With a $300 million budget for six episodes and the Russo brothers still basking in their MCU fame as executive producers, the expectations were high.

Unfortunately, the results so far provide further evidence that merely throwing money at projects does not guarantee quality. Citadel is plagued by numerous issues.

First and foremost, its massive budget is primarily due to expensive reshoots following a change of showrunners mid-production. This indicates a broader problem: whenever difficulties arise, the solution seems to be to delve deeper into Amazon's pockets instead of finding more innovative solutions.

Second, perhaps due to the showrunner change and subsequent reworks, Citadel is indecisive about its tone. At times, it aims to emulate an average James Bond movie, with some outlandish elements but mostly taking itself seriously, while at other times, it veers into outright spy comedy territory.

Third, there's a sneaking suspicion that some of the sillier elements in Citadel are unintentionally funny.

For instance, viewers are likely expected to take seriously the existence of a top-secret spy organisation the size of the CIA, which has access to all the world's nuclear codes (but doesn't guard them particularly well).

Fourth, it's sometimes unclear what the substantial budget has been spent on. Certain scenes appear to be filmed on the cheap, with obvious bloopers, such as an early scene where Nadia steals a wallet (visible in her hand before she even bumps into her mark). Moreover, those seeking mindless action will quickly discover that this series is no John Wick.

Fifth, Citadel introduces grand, fantastical concepts like the ability to edit memories, which are significant enough to shape the entire plot, even in a relatively straightforward action movie about a good guy defeating bad guys (see: the original Total Recall). Yet, it treats these concepts casually and thoughtlessly.

Last but not least, Citadel lacks originality. It borrows liberally from other projects, lifting some story elements as-is from other superior works. Cataloguing all instances of this warrants an article of its own, perhaps even a whole series of articles.

In summary, while Citadel has already been renewed for another season, so far, it's looking like an expensive flop.