Should I really expect a lot from a comedic spy series starring aged action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger? And a series on Netflix of all places as well? These were just a couple of the questions which crossed my mind when I got a notification saying that FUBAR was now available for viewing. I mean, I’m glad Arnold is still getting work in the action field, no less. But do I really wanna see an action star far from his glory days do this kind of thing? Well, I did find out as I watched all eight episodes of FUBAR and I’m here to give you my thoughts on it.

Although the entire series has been out on Netflix for a while now, I’m still going to be making this a SPOILER FREE review, just in case. Anyway, on with the review.

FUBAR stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Luke Brunner, a CIA operative about to retire so he can try to win his wife and family back. However, he is given one more mission before retirement and that’s to extract another agent who’s in danger of being discovered. It turns out the agent he’s supposed to rescue is his own daughter, Emma Brunner, played by Monica Barbaro. The two then realize both of them have been lying to each other as they’ve been living a double life. The two then have to team up to capture an arms dealer while trying to fix their personal lives.

Let’s start off by addressing the Austrian elephant in the room. Was is worth getting Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role? I will respond with a tentative yes. During the action scenes, it’s blatantly obvious that they’re using a stunt double and it’s not Arnold doing all the punching and the kicking most of the time. However, most people tend to forget how good Arnold is in comedic roles and he does get to shine here. He does come off like a lovable stick-in-the-mud a lot but he also does flex some dramatic muscle here and there.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t really buy Monica Barbaro as his daughter. Now, I really like her as an actress and she does give a good performance in FUBAR. But the chemistry between the two just doesn’t work in a way that I believe they’re a father and daughter duo. I mean, they work fine together and they do some good banter between them. but I just can’t see them as related in any shape or form.

I also have to commend the actors and actresses who work as part of the CIA team as they do admirable jobs here. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the people who play Luke Brunner’s civilian acquaintances and family. That’s mostly because the CIA operatives are given the chance to be outlandish and, well, be entertaining. This make them more endearing and you actually like them because of that. The civilians and family members just feel so boring and blah by comparison. I’m sure they’re doing a fine job but the script doesn’t really give them much to do than cause more problems for Arnond and Monica’s characters.

However, I do like Gabriel Luna as the main bad guy for the most part. He does give him a sense of menace and I do like how he has a lot of history with Arnold’s character so the vendetta against him does feel right. My only real problem with him is he’s just super serious all the time. I mean, FUBAR is an action comedy series and it only seems fair that the bad guy gets some comedic moments, right? In retrospect, that may make him feel less of a threat but that just means Gabriel Luna has to act one way for most of the series’ eight episodes.

As this is an action comedy, I guess I do have to talk about the action scenes. I would say they’re passable but not exactly exciting. I do hate how Netflix manipulated how each episode would end in an cliffhanger in an attempt to elevate the tension of the action scenes. It doesn’t really work as they’re never really all that thrilling in the first place. A lot of the setpieces use unrealistic CGI and it does give the feeling of cheapness. I honestly didn’t mind how cheap the CGI looked as this is an action comedy so it’s okay if there’s a little bit of camp here and there. But for those expecting pulse pounding fights, you won’t get it here.

The biggest problem I had with FUBAR is they try to do too much. There are a ton of plot threads woven into the main story and, while that’s to be expected in a spy show where people have to live double lives, they just overstuff it with a lot of complications. Some of these complications even just pop up from out of nowhere and, what’s worse, some of them aren’t really addressed or given proper closure. It’s almost like the writers realized they didn’t have enough content to fill the eight episodes that were ordered so they piled on subplot after subplot without really thinking how they would resolve them down the line.

Despite these issues, I actually still had a fine time watching FUBAR. However, that’s mostly because I tempered my expectations long before I saw the first episode. I knew this was going to be a silly action comedy series starring an aging Arnold Schwarzenegger. I knew Netflix wasn’t going to be throwing a whole lot of budget into the production as it’s not to be taken all that seriously. It’s a very light watch so I say, if you have some time to spare, go ahead and give it a try. FUBAR isn’t totally FUBAR, but just enough to be a fun watch if you turn off your brain.

Have you seen FUBAR? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!