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According to Robert Scucci
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Of all the action stars who rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, Arnold Schwarzenegger has the most staying power because he was always the most confident high school badass. Best known for his innate ability to keep a straight face while pulling out one-liner after one-liner, the Austrian oak proved he can still make you laugh while kicking ass in the Netflix Original series, FUBAR. Playing as a hybrid Meet the parents and Commando, FUBAR it’s engineered, it’s confident in all the right ways, and it’s a shining example that even the most clichéd action movie can still be effective if everyone on board knows the brief.
Arnold Is A Geriatric Hero
FUBAR it was on my must watch list for months before I finally decided to give it a go because I was worried it was going to be one of those series that didn’t live up to its hype. After all, Schwarzenegger is on the wrong side of 70, which led me (wrongly) to think he’d show up half-headed for a payday in a mock attempt to relive his glory days like he was Al Bundy, ranting about how he scored four touchdowns in one game for Polk High School in 1966. Fortunately, I was wrong, and I’m happy to say that Schwarzenegger still has that X factor that makes he is so likable.
Connection Meet the parents
Similar to Robert De NiroJack Byrnes of the Meet the Parents franchise, Schwarzenegger portrays Luke Brunner, a CIA agent on the verge of retirement after his latest successful operation. Always tight-lipped about the true nature of his work, Luke has lied to his family for decades under the guise of owning and running a gym supply company called Merry Fitness alongside Barry (Milan Carter), who also works for the CIA as a technician. operations officer. Luke’s secret double life has torn his family apart, resulting in his wife Tally (Fabiana Udenio) filing for divorce before the events of FUBAR.
While Luke wants to put his CIA life behind him to rebuild his relationship with Tally, his relationship with his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) is just as strained.
IN FUBAR’s in the inaugural episode “Take Your Daughter to Work”, we learn that Emma has her own secret life. Everyone, including Luke and her boyfriend Carter (Jay Baruchel), are under the impression that she travels the world doing humanitarian work, such as providing fresh drinking water to the citizens of La Guajira, Colombia.
When Luke is called out of retirement to pull an agent codenamed Panda out of Guyana, he learns the harsh truth: his daughter is Panda, and she’s trying to take down an arms dealer named Boro Polonia (Gabriel Luna). Luke’s confidence is shaken when he learns that Barry, as well as fellow agents Roo (Fortune Feimster) and Aldon (Travis Van Winkle), knew about Emma’s involvement with the CIA but were sworn to secrecy. Luke also has a past with Bor, having murdered his father when he was still a boy and served as his undercover mentor.
A father/daughter bond in the form of counter-terrorism
FUBAR it has a lot of moving parts but keeps the viewer on pace without ever seeming too condescending as it races through every action movie you can think of.
First, we have the “we’re not so different, you and I” dynamic between Luke and Emma. Emma is clearly having daddy issues (her words not mine) because of how absent Luke was during her childhood, causing her to get over it. Luke feels guilty for lying to his family and worries that his daughter’s personal life like his will fall apart if he continues to focus on his work. As they butt heads during their missions, they develop a newfound appreciation for each other as Luke was one of the CIA’s best agents and his little girl is clearly doing a great job and following in his footsteps.
We also see a lot of “zero hour” tropes play out over the course of eight episodes, as there’s always a bomb to disarm, a train wreck that’s about to derail, and Boro, who’s always seemingly one step ahead of the CIA on the run.
My favorite action comedy FUBARhowever, there is clever banter between Luke, Emma, Barry and Roo. Roo has a foul mouth, speaks her mind, and always ends up having to dress up in less-than-flattering disguises in order to fulfill her mission while offering relationship advice to Barry.
What’s more, when Luke and Emma are forced to see an occupational psychologist named Dr. Pfeffer, they immediately start calling him “Dr. Pepper” and name other soda brands to get under his skin. After being challenged to make a whopping amount of soda puns, Luke simply tells Dr. Pfeffer (Scott Thompson) that he must be “fantasizing,” proving that our favorite action hero still knows his way around this late in his career look around. .
Streaming FUBAR on Netflix
If you grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger in his action movie heyday, then FUBAR is another series you should watch Netflix. Schwarzenegger et al. they approach their secret spy lifestyle with a wink and a nod in every scene, and the action sequences have a feature film quality that makes the series all the more enjoyable. Between every single explosion and gunshot, FUBAR it has a lot of heart thanks to its family dynamic and has a laugh-per-minute ratio that you wouldn’t expect if you went to streaming series with zero expectations like me.
FUBAR is a Netflix Original series and can be streamed with an active subscription. And if you like what you see, Season 2 is slated for a mid-2025 release.
