Skip to content
FUBAR is Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s first ever TV series, since he normally makes action film after action film.
Originally, I was led to believe this was a continuation of True Lies. It’s not, but I thought – maybe it’s similar? Well, he plays Luke Brunner, who’s just about to retire from the CIA, after a long career culminating in freeing someone of their diamonds, but like Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III, he thought he was out, but they’re pulling him back in… for one more job.
But before we get to that, he was looking forward to time with his family, including daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro – Top Gun: Maverick) and ex-wife Tally (Fabiana Udenio), but even in his advanced years, he still illegally rides a motorbike with no helmet on… However, since he may as well be Harry Tasker, he’s obviously been through more dangerous escapades in his career.
So, back to the main plot, and for long and complex reasons, Harry.. sorry, Luke, still has one more job. He needs to go to Guyana, pretend to be ‘Finn Hoss’ in order to retrieve some WMD from a baddie called Boro (Gabriel Luna – The Last Of Us) and extract CIA operative codenamed ‘Panda’, but is introduced to the biggest badass also in the area… a woman who will beat any man about the (boxing) ring… yes, Emma.
So, can he get her out with the WMD? Will she show him up along the way? Well, there’s 8 episodes to find out, and so far, I’ve seen two.
Once it sets out its stall, it does seem to take a fair while to get going again, and then gets very predictable. Plus, for the script, the jokes don’t exactly hit the mark such as when Dad and daughter go into a therapy session, even though they started off well when Emma told Daddy her husband is a kindergarten teacher, to which he comments: “Those painting don’t finger themselves(!)”
I can’t help but compare this to True Lies, and both the script and direction were so much better, there. Reportedly, they never made a sequel because after 2001, they couldn’t paint terrorists in a light that would find the situation “funny”, but plenty of TV shows and films have, so I think they just couldn’t get a script together. Perhaps it was just lightning in a bottle that hasn’t been captured since, including now.
I’ll see how FUBAR gets received, but for now, two episodes is enough, even though the second one does introduce Aprana Brielle into the cast as the nerdy Tina Mukerji.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
FUBAR is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Thursday April 20th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-60 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: May 25th 2023
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Phil Abraham, Steven A Adelson, Holly Dale, Stephen Surjik
Producers: Agatha Warren, Carolyn Harris
Creators: Nick Santora
Writers: Nick Santora, Cait Duffy, Michael J Gutierrez, Lillian L Wang, Adam Higgs, Scott Sullivan, Penny Cox
Music: Tony Morales
Cast:
Luke Brunner: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Emma Brunner: Monica Barbaro
Barry: Milan Carter
Boro: Gabriel Luna
Roo: Fortune Feimster
Aldon: Travis Van Winkle
Tally Brunner: Fabiana Udenio
Carter: Jay Baruchel
Dot: Barbara Eve Harris
Tina Mukerji: Aparna Brielle
Dr. Pfeffer: Scott Thompson
Cain Khan: David Chinchilla
Sandy: Stephanie Sy
Romi: Rachel Lynch
Donnie: Andy Buckley
Oscar: Devon Bostick
Will: Patrick Garrow
Shawn: Jesse Camacho
Troy: Richard Marks
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.