Unoriginal spy plots, routine tropes

Another spin-off of what was originally pitched by the Russo Brothers as a global sci-fi series, this Italian run of ‘Citadel’ has little original to cling on to other than its charismatic leads.

The globe-trotting series’ first season, created by the Russo Brothers and running over budget to the tune of $30 million, was overly-hyped and failed to catch the fancy of the audience or the critics. Having already contracted itself to two more seasons, ‘Citadel Diana’ and ‘Honey Bunny’, Amazon had no option but to trudge along, hoping to score big eventually.

‘Citadel Diana’ may garner some interest, but it is unlikely to become the money-spinner that Amazon was hoping for.

This six-episoder relies on unoriginal spy plots, routine tropes, unexciting cliffhangers and the storyline feels like a rehash of the movie ‘Hanna’. It’s 2030. The young protagonist, Diana Cavalieri (Matilda De Angelis), along with her sister Sara (Giordana Faggiano), are orphaned after a plane crash that left no survivors. Diana is seeking answers and as a young intern in a media house, gets hold of a statement alluding to some sabotage that led to the crash. Luckily for her, she bumps into Gabriele, who is part of ‘Citadel’, the global spy agency, and the two begin a mentee-mentor relationship. Soon enough, Diana becomes a leading spy and is entrusted with a dangerous mission.

Trapped behind enemy lines as a mole in the powerful enemy syndicate Manticore, she has to fight her way back to the core goodness that led her astray in the first place. In the process, she hopes to avenge the death of her parents, who she believes were killed in the crash orchestrated by Manticore.

The plot also involves rivalry between the Italian, French and German divisions of Manticore. Diana is now working together with Edo (Lorenzo Cervasio), the son of Manticore Italy chief Ettore (Maurizio Lombardi) — a collaboration which will ultimately force her to choose between love and revenge.

The series is an easy watch because it has only six episodes and both Matilda and Lorenzo burn up some hot chemistry between them. The writing is pretty straightforward, even though the narrative takes you back and forth, giving us tidbits on Diana’s origins as a spy and her current assignment.

The action sequences, though not exactly futuristic, are decent. The high concept story with a low- on-imagination orchestration, technical design that appears commonplace and production design that looks good but fails to register, is not what you expect a big-budget sci-fi series to be.