MEXICO 86 — Andor Wants the World Cup!

Review by Steve Barton II

While American football and basketball rank the highest among American sports fan’s viewership, soccer reigns supreme worldwide with over three billion fans. The most prestigious event in the sport of soccer is the FIFA World Cup, which is held in a different country every four years. The tournament began back in 1930 and has become the largest and most highly regarded event in the sport of soccer for both the teams, their owners and their local governments. The teams have the honor of being one of the thirty-two teams invited to the most prestigious tournament in their sport and the local governments are all hoping that they are chosen to host the tournament, in hopes of bringing tourists and wealth to their home. In Mexico 86, we follow Martin De La Torre (Diego Luna) as an audacious Mexican bureaucrat who will stop at nothing to convince the FIFA organization to host the 1986 tournament in Mexico, even if he has to get dirty.


Diego Luna proves to the world once again that he is an incredible talent and completely became this fictional bureaucrat who you want to root for due to his charm and presence, but he’s not a perfect protagonist. From the opening, we see Martin (Luna) meeting a beautiful woman (Karla Souza) at her door and quickly find themselves making love, but then learn that he’s married and this is NOT his wife. Martin is a compelling businessman who you shouldn’t look away from, because he’s like a sly fox who is always making moves. It's also interesting that Martin De La Torre isn’t fully based on a real person, rather a blend of political figures in Mexico in the 1980s. Having this flawed protagonist makes what could be a boring story about the behind-the-scenes of soccer interesting, even if it may not all be historically accurate.

Without Luna, Mexico 86 may not have been on anyone’s radar due to the story being a bit niche and boring. They try to amp the fun up with the ridiculous party scenes and the love triangle that Martin places himself in, but it doesn’t land as hard as intended. While soccer is the biggest and most popular sport in the world, the politics behind the game is most certainly not. In 2026 where we’ve had a mixed bag of biopics already, Mexico 86 is gonna struggle to find its way to the top of the pile to be seen. Gabriel Ripstein captures the look and tone of the 1980s and the editing in with the archival footage helps place the audience there too. With Ripstein’s previous work on Narcos, he borrows some familiar components from that like the narration helping to frame the story.


In the end, Mexico 86 is a niche film that is made purely for fans of soccer and historical fiction. Luna fans will get their fill of his charm and charisma, while he gets lost in the makeup and becomes Martin De La Torre. The politics behind soccer may get a bit slow at times, but they do a decent job and picking the pace back up and not letting you nod off too long. A companion piece documentary to pair with Mexico 86 would make for an interesting afternoon. If the FIFA World Cup and its history is of any interest to you, give Mexico 86 and shot and see if you’ll hit the net! 


Mexico 86 is available on Netflix starting June 5th! 


Rating: 3/5