The Netflix series FUBAR could’ve been a great series. It could’ve been one of those series that appeals to all audiences, especially those who grew up on the action movies of its star Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the series falls apart early and spends the rest of its time trying to play catch-up.
My main complaint with the series is how cheap and inexpensive it looks. You can tell everything is a set and it looks like it’s a step-up from your basic 1990s porno. Most of the sets looks like they’ve been cannibalized from other Y2K era Canadian-produced TV shows like PSI Factor and Relic Hunter. This isn’t surprising since the series was filmed in Toronto. I’m wouldn’t be surprised if they used the conference rooms of the hotels the cast and crew stayed at as well. For a show that tauts itselt as an action-comedy series, everyone of the eight episodes look like “bottle episodes” with as little casts, set pieces or even special effects as possible. During one crucial character’s death, it’s so obviously a special effects. Don’t they use the blood squibs anymore?
It’s become a typical cliche in all of streaming TV shows and movies, which sucks because Netflix has spent bigger money on Stranger Things and Beef, which are great series. It’s obvious they had very little faith in this show. All interior scenes are filmed in such drab claustrophopic settings that you really never feel any excitement for what’s happening. All exterior shots look like they’re filmed in secluded fields and country roads they were able to easily close down with little to no permits needed.
To be honest, this looks more like the “Geezer Teaser” direct-to-video movies Schwarzenegger’s colleagues Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis have made. Arnie’s heydays are long gone but he still is able to make some good movies with the right budgets and scripts in mind. This is his first series in his career dating back to Hercules in New York, but it looks like some people took a cue from that movie. Hercules was meant to look cheap. This series tried to look high action but doesn’t.
This brings me to my next complaint with the casting. Schwarzenegger at 75 is showing his grey hairs and crow’s feet wrinkles. And that adds some to his role as Luke Brunner, a CIA agent who is on the cusp of retirement. Taking time off from big movies in the 2000s to be the “Governator” of Calie-fornie-ahh, Schwarzenegger returned to big budget spectacles like The Last Stand and Sabotage. But it was with his subtle smaller movies like Maggie and Aftermath, he finally realized he wasn’t a young man nor was he trying to be. He was a full-on action star in his 40s and 50s when actors that age were expected to take grandfather roles.
Schwarzenegger does his usual schtick. And there’s a nice surprise from Monica Barbaro as his daughter, Emma, who he discovers on an assignment is in the CIA just like him. While the series starts off with the two arguing, it foolishly continues to carry it on through its run. This is the type of thing that should’ve been resolved halfway through. For a two-hour action movie, it might have been acceptable. But for a series that runs close to eight hours, it gets tedious.
While Schwarzengger and Barbaro stand out, the supporting cast isn’t given much to do. The gorgeous Fabiana Udenio plays Tally (Luke’s ex-wife and Emma’s mother) but she’s so sparingly used that you want to see more of her. Jay Baruchel plays Carter, Emma’s boyfriend, who is a direct contrast to her work as a field agent. Baruchel has played these “Aw Shucks!” dweeby characters most of his career dating back to the TV series Undeclared, you’re expecting there to be a twist but there isn’t one. There’s also Barry (Milan Carter) who is supposed to be Luke’s right-hand man from a technical standpoint, but he seems to be the classic high-tech nerdy stereotype. I understand this is supposed to be somewhat a satire of the action-comedy trope but Carter never does really sell Barry.
Even worse, they included a subplot in which Barry is attracted to Tina (Apranna Brielle) but spends half of the series trying to win her over. Why? It never makes sense. It feels forced and Carter and Brielle have little chemistry. The writers waste Brielle by not giving the young, beautiful talented actress anything to do but talk mostly to Carter. There is a scene in which she goes undercover that she nails and there’s a hint at the end she may not be what we think.
The only supporting actor who seems to understand the assignment and gives a good role is Travis Van Winkle as the smug debonair dudebro James Bond/Jason Bourne wannabe Aldon. You don’t know if you should like Aldon or laugh at his foolishness as he’s playing the role of a special agent with a pompus attitude that he knows he’s probably full of shit but it still gets the job done.
That being said, the worst character and actor in the series is Roo played by Fortune Feimster who apparently has to crack a joke about everything and I do mean everything. Every scene she’s in, she has to have the last laugh but most of her jokes fall flat. Because she’s a lesbian, she seems to think that needs to be addressed in every third joke she says. Because the writers don’t give her anything to do but crack wise, her character and Feimster acting drags the series. She says her dialogue like a bored high schooler being forced to read aloud a part in play in English class after lunch period. It’s obvious that Roo was supposed to be the Tom Arnold character from True Lies, but James Cameron was smart enough to reign in the performance, so it’s not a distraction.
Speaking of the other Arnold, he appears briefly in a scene. There’s a lot of references to True Lies and this series plays like the unofficial sequel we never did get because Cameron decide to focus on Avatar. There is a nice small role by Scott Thompson of Kids in the Hall fame as a psychologist who examines the behavior between Luke and Emma. During one of the series’ best scenes, he has Luke and Emma use puppets of each other to voice their frustrations. Thompson is used in a way that his role as Dr. Pfeffer never overcrowds the rest of the series which has become a rarity when movies and series use comics nowadays.
The premise of FUBAR isn’t exciting as it should be. It involves Luke, Emma and the rest of the team trying to prevent a global terrorist from doing something bad. It’s never made clear. The terrorist is Boro Polonia (Gabriel Luna) who has a history with both Luke and Emma because he knows them from their undercover days. The series’ never focuses on the betrayal Boro could feel especially since he knew Luke since he was a kid. Also, because the cover is blown so early, it reduces Boro to a Dr. Claw/Cobra Commander-like character who is always getting away with something at the end of each episode.
There are so many missed opportunities in this series that FUBAR is the perfect name for it. The showrunners should delve further into Luke and Emma being undercover with Boro thinking they’re working with him. Instead, it’s revealed early on. Also, Boro never comes off as a convincing villain but a cariacature of the Latino crime boss stereotype. Like I said, the series probably included this to send up the tropes, but it’s never done correctly.
Also, for an action comedy, it’s too violent at times. True Lies had a lot of violence but Cameron was smart to use effects that didn’t glorify the violence. Also, the movie was seen as a send-up of Schwarzenegger’s 1980s movies, like Commando and Raw Deal. There’s too many meta-references to Arnie’s glory days. One of which I like involves a scene from Twins that I’m not going to ruin, but another has Luke talking about Twins that it kills the joke.
Schwarzenegger can be a funny guy when given the right material. But apparently, the showrunners think two people constantly arguing is funny. It’s not. It’s an annoyance. While the series hints of a second series, I hope the powers that be not make it as cringeworthy. There is a lot of great angles they could work with here but don’t.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 