Hulu’s boxing series La Máquina begins not with glimpses of in-ring action, but with the drama taking place immediately around it. The camera whips through the crowds of entertainers, security guards, and personnel found backstage, all desperately trying to get things in order before the lights go down and the entrance music for the fight plays.
Eventually, we’re brought to the main man himself, Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna (Gael García Bernal), a veteran boxer known for his grit and determination. La Máquina carries itself with the same relentless energy: From the movements of the camera to the colors and the outsized personalities of the characters themselves, everything about it is vibrant and alive.
Esteban looks the part of the perfect prizefighter, though his hair is graying around the temples. He has the slightly gawky, boyish charm you find in many top athletes, perhaps the result of a life spent doing the exact same thing since childhood. But that goofiness vanishes when the first bell rings, when his game face goes on and his eyes fill with focused fury.
Still, Esteban is getting old, and fights are getting harder to book for his manager and best friend, Andy Lujan (Diego Luna). With his hairpiece and deeply bronzed, Botoxed mug, Andy is a fake through and through. He goes through an elaborate beauty routine each morning while practicing sales pitches in the mirror, then gladhands his way through the rest of the day with an ingratiating word or a free pair of Bad Bunny tickets for everyone he sees. Those he can’t bribe, he’s happy to blackmail. He’s everyone’s best friend, but no one really likes him.
The opening episode of La Máquina is spent bouncing between Andy’s wheeling and dealing, as he secures a twilight title shot for his friend, and Esteban’s attempts to prove that he’s still worthy of it. Entertaining as they both are individually, they’re even better when they’re together. Esteban is an extremely straightforward guy who attacks everything head-on, while Andy is like Saul Goodman if he were born a few miles further south, slipping and rolling through every conversation as he looks for the angle that can give him an advantage. Their shared scenes are electric, like a bout between two boxers with polar-opposite styles.
Andy eventually finds himself in over his head after making a backroom deal with the wrong people. From here, the six-episode La Máquina notably takes a turn toward a pulpier kind of storytelling as this nameless crime syndicate turns out to be the sort of all-knowing evil that you might expect to see someone like James Bond or Ethan Hunt facing off against—the kind that can get to anyone, anywhere at any time, often in elaborately gruesome ways.
While Andy and Esteban try to extricate themselves from the situation, Esteban’s ace reporter ex-wife, Irasema (Eiza González), decides to make this organization the subject of her next scoop. It’s a dangerous job, but she’s a force to be reckoned with, played by González with the steeliness of a woman who’s used to cutting through the macho bluster of the men around her.
Andy and Esteban are undoubtedly La Máquina’s heavy hitters, but the manager and his effervescent wife, Carlota (Karina Gidi), are a match made in a delightfully kitschy heaven. And in Esteban’s corner is his faithful coach Sixto (Jorge Perugorría), the kind of character that actors have relished playing since Burgess Meredith first barked about eating lightning and crapping thunder in Rocky. Sixto, who’s always ready to give Esteban a last-minute speech about the true nature of the sport or Plato’s allegory of the cave, makes an excellent addition to the pantheon of on-screen boxing coaches thanks to Perugorría’s spirited performance.
If La Máquina has an obvious flaw, it’s the hackneyed plot device of using Esteban’s hallucinations due to head injuries to point the story back toward the childhood trauma that he’ll have to overcome before the end of the miniseries. Similarly, Irasema’s investigation leads her to another old pro who’s now stuck in an armchair, reciting numbers like Hurley from Lost—numbers that just so happen to provide exactly the clue that she needs to continue her search.
Thankfully, La Máquina is so light on its feet that these less successful sections don’t deal too big of a blow to the show. No sooner has Esteban shaken off a hallucination than we’re back with Andy and his schemes or hearing another mesmerizing anecdote from Sixto or skipping back into the ring for some more crunching action. The episodes are tight, the energy is boundless, and the result is a series that’s endlessly entertaining.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
