FUBAR: Arnold Schwarzenegger debut series should haveFUBARed the cliches

FUBAR opens with a set-piece gig straight out of a Hollywood action hit of the nineties — make that a Hollywood action hit of the nineties starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The aged superstar hunk, cast as a CIA operative on verge of retirement, flamboyantly pulls off a ‘job’ in Antwerp. The sequence is reminiscent of all that defined the Arnie brawn in his heydays. As the episodes roll, you realise signature set pieces form a deliberate pattern in FUBAR. The show that marks Schwarzenegger’s small screen debut keeps weaving memorable scenes from his career into the screenplay all along. You wonder if this is the actor’s way of saying “thank you” to his fans.

Or, if this is a superstar’s way of reiterating his brand value among fans. FUBAR after all banks on the sort of corny, feel-good mix of action, humour and barely-there storytelling that harks back to the familiar Schwarzenegger hit of the eighties or the nineties. As over-the-top action drama unfolds on a predictable track, the ‘Arnie specials’ inspired by his past hits trickle into the show.

Series creator Nick Santora has pointed out how case numbers seen on files in FUBAR were actually drawn from the serial number of Schwarzenegger’s iconic Terminator character, his license plate in Last Action Hero and his badge in Kindergarten Cop. A post-lovemaking shot featuring his character Luke Brunner with ex-wife Tally (played by Fabiana Udenio) appears to be a nod to a classic moment Schwarzenegger shared with Kelly Preston in Twins. In the story, Luke, after initially being unaware his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) also works for the CIA, has to partner her on a mission. The situation seems indirectly inspired by the drama in True Lies where Schwarzenegger plays Harry, a secret agent whose wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) thinks he is a salesman. A twist in the plot in the end sees Harry and Helen collaborating as partner agents. Elsewhere in FUBAR, a situation involving Schwarzenegger and a chopper (“choppa” as he yells with gusto) is a throwback to Predator.

Filmstars catering to the masses tend to repeat career high points to the extent of turning them into cliches. Hardcore fans do not mind such repetitions, on contrary they love seeing their hero play out similar set-pieces in film after film. That is how image trap is born. In the case of FUBAR, the irreverent streak lies in the fact that the series not only celebrates Schwarzenegger’s image trap as an action hero, it also replicates specific scenes that highlight various aspects of the image. For the Arnie fan brigade, the idea renders a quirky spin to an otherwise ordinary storyline.

Schwarzenegger, also an executive producer on the show, clearly has the business sense to know his fan brigade would no longer prove strong enough at the ticket windows to sustain a big-budget feature film starring him as a solo hero. Over the past five years, the actor’s only big screen release in Hollywood has been 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, interestingly the first film of the Terminator series where he does not get first billing despite playing the title role. Box office reality probably drove the decision to produce FUBAR as a small-screen show rather than a feature film, echoing the fact that Schwarzenegger’s core fan base — those who were teenagers and youths in the eighties and the nineties — is a generation that would today probably prefer home entertainment to visiting the theatres.

While fans should be satisfied with the fact that FUBAR does not tamper with Arnie stereotypes, the problem with the series is it shows no effort to woo new-age thriller fans who may have different tastes. Entertainment, especially action entertainment in Hollywood, has drastically changed since Schwarzenegger ruled the worldwide box office with larger-than-live swagger in his early Terminator films, or his numerous global hits including Commando, Predator, Last Action Hero and True Lies. Even within the mainstream ambit, action thrillers nowadays seem incomplete without a socio-political context.

FUBAR, however, is not without its problems even as a Schwarzenegger-patented old-school entertainer. The makers of the series seem content fashioning a knock-off production of all the Schwarzenegger originals, rather than utilise those influences to create an original piece of entertainment. For all its Arnie tributes, the series wastes the scope of bringing back its veteran action hero into public imagination. You realise watching FUBAR the difference between reinventing and rehashing an idea for the screen.

It’s taken around eight writers including series creator Santora to come up with the plot that spans eight episodes. Briefly, Schwarzenegger as Luke Brunner and his daughter Emma get the shock of their lives upon discovering their relationship stands on a heap of lies — they’ve both hidden the fact from each other that they are CIA operatives. With personal rapport having hit an awkward note, Luke and Emma discover their relationship woes might have only begun. They must foster a professional rapport because they are forced to team up as partners on a mission. What follows is a smattering of the usual action amidst espionage drama, although you do wish the characters talked lesser and the episodes were more crisply written.

It could have been a fun idea to whip up some action and drama but unimaginative storytelling offers almost no surprises.Schwarzenegger and Barbaro, however, share an interesting father-daughter chemistry that buoys the series. Technically, the show uses multiple cinematographers and film editors to come up with the essential gloss that could, perhaps, have been created using a single cameraperson and editor, as they did in the nineties.

FUBAR isn’t quite F**ked Up Beyond All Recognition. You do wish they had FUBARed the cliches some more, to make the action drama more impishly insane than it is.

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and journalist who loves to write on popular culture.

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