Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee

I knew already about McAfee and him leading an larger than life lifestyle and was hoping on some facts that would like support the image however instead the "documentary" is filled with people saying how nice and generous he is but still manages to spin the story to attack him. This is not journalism. Just great editing

Frightening to see how this man could travel to a poor country and establish himself effectively as a feudal lord and apparently engage in extensive criminal activity and then walk away as if it was just a bad holiday. I think the best line in the documentary is that by a local who knew him and said "he is as crazy as bat-shit" and if you watch the documentary most people will agree. The most heart breaking portion of the documentary is the scenes with the father of the man he allegedly murdered talking about how helpless he feels seeing this guy walking around Scot-free and running for president in the US whilst his son is dead. Well worth a watch.

This is an incredibly interesting and near seat-gluing documentary, extremely well put together with many fascinating interviews with people who seemingly know exactly what happened in Belize. Burstein says she's interested in how money, power and fame can afford people privileges which allow them to get away with things others could not. To many this may seem like a given and very few 'ordinary' people can do anything but know it's absolutely true - look at who's running the country! - and this film simply confirms the fact. All the FBI has to do is find the culprit (avoiding spoilers) and do an DNA test. Burstein found him but maybe the FBI's not that clever or perhaps they lack the resources or perhaps it's simply a question of the rich and famous getting away with things. Again. In all, a fascinating and very watchable movie.

This documentary is interesting and absolutely worth watching. I found the overall documentary somewhat weak, the story could have been told better and with more debt. I can't quite put my finger on it, something about the presentation I disliked. The story itself though interesting. Yeah, I didn't know I knew him. I never gave him any thought. He may as well be more famous than Michael Jackson. It always amazes me how mediocre looking dude with a good vocabulary can attract women and make them do virtually anything. Note: I am not jealous. So you have a product that is known worldwide, and the inventor a bit of an eccentric A*******, that's potentially a recipe for disaster. Absolutely worth a watch, one hell of story! The story of the guy you know by name and his products' fame. The story of how money can mess with your mind? Or the story of a highly intellectual with vices?? Thank god that the elections weren't McAfee VS Trump. It could have been.

This documentary about the life of John McAfee reminded me of the movie 'The Mosquito Coast'; a maverick, libertarian American travels to central America and becomes very strange. In the case of McAfee, who developed the world's first anti-virus computer software, said "strangeness" involves bizarre sexual practices, a permanent escort of armed guards, and allegations of rape and murder. Yet McAfee returned to the U.S. and an apparent life of contemporary respectability. Nanette's Burnstein's documentary isn't perfect: I don't think much of her interview technique, and she credits a failed bid for the Liberartarian Party of America's nomination for the U.S. presidency with rather more seriousness than it deserves. But it's still a compelling story, whose ending if foreshadowed very early on when we learn of the unconventional practices among the staff of the McAfee company from it's earliest days: those interviewed remember the competition to see who could get laid on their desktops most frequently with fondness, but it seems of a piece with McAfee's later, more disturbing behaviour. Overall, it's a lesson that too much money never really does anyone good; but it's even worse if you get in the way of the person who has it.

Was hoping to learn something new here, but alas that was not the case. The director pretty much proves McAfee's point that journalists will run with any story so long as it has entertainment value.

McAfee was and is not a security guru, but a very good spin doctor for his own purpose. Surely he was at the right time in the right place and sensed a business opportunity. But creating a program to get rid of first virus with global media attention has not been rocket science. Not at the time when the computer world has been much more simple and not so interconnected and multi-layered like today. But John was and is good in getting media presence and making business out of it. Now he manages to transport his deception of the security guru legend into the modern IT world and sell it to young gullible people. Have a look at the negative reviews on IMDb trying to discredit the documentary and its film maker to get a glimpse on the success of the ruthless self-marketing abilities of McAfee. The documentary is about how to get away with murder when you are John McAfee. If you want a label for it then I would compare it to The Jinx. There are a lot of different people interviewed whose testimonials in combination shed light on McAfees dangerous personality and make a strong point that John needs to go on trial for the murder of Gregory Faull.

This isn't a documentary. I know and love watching documentaries, been doing so for years now. I started out watching Micheal Moore's stuff and branched out into everything under the sun. The biggest problem real documentaries are facing today are films like this one, if you can call this a film. Basically anyone thinks they can make a documentary nowadays because they have a camera, laptop and an idea for a cool title. And once someone's watches these so-called "documentaries", they'll cringe at the idea of wasting 2 hours of their time watching another documentary. These random 2 hour over-glorified slideshows are killing the art of documentary films. The market has been oversaturated thanks to lame films like this and now real, I repeat REAL DOCUMENTARIES with an actual message or story to tell are getting thrown under the bus because of hipsters like this director who random cut and paste clips together and call it a day, and are doing so just for a paycheck. This is not a film, it is basically 2 hours of some chick p!ssed off at John McAfee because he would not give her an interview for her lame slideshow of a movie. She literally interviews random people (in serious need of money) and has them repeat the same story about John McAfee. They come off as coached. During the interviews they're giving answers like "yah" and "sure." When the director has to finally go somewhere to supposedly verify something, she chickens out because she claims it is too dangerous. It is like a bad high school project, not only half-piped and fake but lacking of much effort. Whatever she was paid to do this, I can tell you she not only pocketed most of the production money but got a free trip out of it. I'm giving it 2 stars because it was kind of funny to hear her keep complaining about John McAfee refusing to give her an interview. It probably forced her to waste more money on paying off locals for bogus interviews. This wannabe documentary isn't worth your time.

I'm a bit hesitant when documentary filmmakers include themselves in the film their making. But in this case filmmaker Nanette Burstein straddles that line nicely, particularly when the subject of her film won't talk to her! But McAfee does..... via email. And near the end of the film when she is able to "corner" her subject, the result is interestingly captured all on camera. Her persistence in tracking down witnesses, friends and associates is admirable and the results speak for themselves. Is John McAfee crazy? a brilliant media provocateur? A computer genius? All three? I won't spoil anything, but let me just say that the interviews with the "girlfriends" was probably one of the most shocking and disgusting things I have ever heard in my life. Let's leave it at that. In conclusion, the documentary held my interest and was well-produced.

Trailer—Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee