Man on the Run

Greetings again from the darkness. Remember that time you paid pop star Brittany Spears one million dollars to jump out of a birthday cake at your party? Or the times you paid huge appearance fees to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, and Paris Hilton to hang around your lavish parties? If not, then you're no Jho Low. And thank goodness for that. Jho Low was in cahoots with then Prime Minister Najib Razak to siphon billions from a fund designed to assist Malaysian citizens. Their fund was called 1MDB (1 Malaysian Development Berhad) and thanks to researchers and whistleblowers, this film from Cassius Michael Kim lays out a textbook case of corruption, fraud, and greed.

The FBI have called this the largest kleptocracy case to date. Kleptocracy is defined as corrupt government officials embezzling funds for personal gain. And yes, that is the where the billions of dollars come in, however, in this day and age, celebrities must be involved for the general public to much care. To satisfy these viewers, the montage of associated celebrities is impressive, and the use of these funds to finance Martin Scorsese's Oscar nominated film, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2014), may provide the perfect example of irony. Government corruption funding a film highlighting Wall Street corruption. To top it off, that scenario is then used as the basis for a documentary focused on the two key players behind this conspiracy of fraudulent activity.

In addition to Jho Low, Prime Minister Najib Razak, and the celebs, the story also involves Najib's wife, the FBI, Goldman Sachs executives, and numerous other folks who got caught up in the web of greed. Wherever there is dirty money being spent, you can be assured there are dirty people involved. Filmmaker Kim allows many to communicate their perspectives and observations on Jho Low, though the reality is that he remains a somewhat mysterious figure. An enigma who, while conspiring with the head of a country, managed to live the high life by spending money bilked from Malaysians.

A 22-carat diamond ended up with the Prime Minister's wife, and both of them got what they deserved in the end. However, the newest game of "Where's Waldo?" is now called, "Where's Jho Low?" He is the titular man on run, while others pay the price ... including a country that teetered on financial failure. The director does include an interview with the former Prime Minister, and we do hear from others who are familiar with the case. Unfortunately, none of the celebrities who accepted the fees agreed to appear on camera, either due to shame or fear of self-incrimination. Still, there is plenty of slime on display.

In select theaters beginning September 22, 2023.

Man On The Run uses celebrities as the hook to get you to watch this expose on a name you would never recognize otherwise. It's common knowledge that celebs get paid for appearances so big deal. They don't know where every dollar comes from people they are acquainted with for gosh sake. As far as the man "on the run" part of the story and the fraud he committed - it's a web of corruption and politics at the highest level but a rather boring story overall IMO. It actually put me to sleep 3 times and came back in the morning to finish it. Doesn't say much for such a short documentary or story. One thing I did learn from it though is who the man is that is on the run - will remember the name now Jho Low, which by the way sounds like a fake name anyway, If I hear it discussed in a social setting at least I will know who and what is being discussed, so I will give it that which is what my 3 stars are for.

#JhoLow #ManOnTheRun.

This shows a really high profile scam which went unseen with a lot of big figures spanning across countries and industries. The movie is informative but is not in best form of entertainment or even a good documentary. Could be taken better for cinematic effects or experience but would recommend everyone to watch the movie for sake of learning about one of the biggest scandals in recent times. When the key politicians and big name firms get inloved, everything from investigations to serving justice could be a challenge but requires the justice to renew the faith in the democratic systems. Watch for information.

Love the narrative and how it ties back to how this affects the everyday lay people from hawkers to illiterate rural Malaysians. The 1MDB fiasco seemed hidden behind clouds of financial jargons and conspiracy when the news first broke but the documentary did an amazing job explaining how this came to be and why nobody knew all the details behind it. Perfect for people who have no extensive knowledge about business/finance workouts as this documentary breaks difficult concepts and illustrated them into very digestible pieces. Highly recommended for all Malaysians to build understanding of this turbulent times.

... is to make them interesting.

Unfortunately this one fails. It is a complete flop.

It is made even worse by the awful drowning soundtrack.

People won't care about this movie and in that way it mirrors how people don't care about what happened.

The story could have been told in 15-30 mins.

Here we just get endless padding of mournful soundtrack and people making comments which don't add to the story.

I'd suggest you just use Google to get a summary of events and save yourself the time to watch it. Certainly.don't extend the financial losses by spending money on a ticket.

The long list of people who chose not to participate - did so wisely.