Bob Marley: One Love

Paint by numbers musical biopic that hits all the cliches; crooked management, a "complex" love story, father-son drama and some genuinely decent concert sequences.

The many flashbacks and heavy Jamaican patois don't do the narrative any favors (subtitles needed for this one!) Cast performances are mostly solid but unspectacular. Lashana Lynch's Rita Marley is a highlight. Kingsley Ben-Adir's Bob is likeable but lightweight - at the end we don't get any sense of what really drove Bob as a musician or a strongly religious man. None of the supporting characters are sketched out much at all, so the film depends on these two performances to carry it, with mixed results.

Overall a superficial examining of an important influential artist that could've been so much more.

My wife and I attended a screening of Bob Marley: One Love (2024) last night. The narrative traces Bob Marley's journey to fame, navigating the violence in his home and channeling it as a creative force for success. We glimpse flashbacks of his family life, marked by maternal abandonment and the pivotal role of his wife in propelling him from adversity to stardom.

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), the film features Kingsley Ben-Adir (Peaky Blinders), Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die), Aston Barrett Jr., James Norton (Little Women), and Tosin Cole (House Party).

The movie presents an uneven experience, with aspects that captivated me and others that fell short. The exploration of Marley's upbringing and its surrounding circumstances was excellent and enlightening, and the love story was compelling. The portrayal of Marley's global and domestic influence was also commendable. However, Kingsley Ben-Adir's attempt to embody Marley's unique, awkward, and unpredictable persona felt somewhat inauthentic. His meticulously perfect wig and attire contrasted with Marley's natural, islander vibe as seen in videos during the closing credits.

In conclusion, Bob Marley: One Love offers worthwhile elements, but it falls short of elite status, akin to films like Ray or Walk the Line. I'd give it a 6/10 and suggest watching it at least once.

I wish I knew superstar Bob Marley better after seeing the biopic, Bob Marley One Love, but I don't. For such a music legend, the greatest exponent of reggae and a tireless promoter of peace for Jamaica, director Reinaldo Marcus Green and his host of writers patch together impressive music and a few poignant scenes from 1976 to 78 into a whole that doesn't give the sense of his greatness before he died of cancer in 1981 at age 36.

As Marley, Kingsley Ben-Adir has the star power of the original Marley with a casual charisma that convinces us he could bring peace to the two warring factions in post-colonial Jamaica. Because Marley eventually leaves home to tour the world and land in London, we are limited in learning about the close connection to his homeland from his birth on.

A reason to see this unimpressive bio is to watch the inception of the album, Exodus, which Time Magazine called the best of the 20th century. As successful as that was, peace was not to be so, an impossible task even the great Marley couldn't pull off.

Lacking throughout is an intimate look into his psyche, such as we did get in the recent Oppenheimer. Both bios dwell on a few key years (a blessing rather than trying to depict the whole life), but One Love never goes deeply except in the successful scenes with his wife, Rita (Lashana Lynch), which have the kind of soul revealing power lacking in most other scenes which too often scan the surface.

The lesser dramatic revelations such as his passion for soccer, Africa, and the genesis of the simple Exodus album cover are well represented. Less so is insight into reggae while he lived in his homeland. The most we get serves just to verify that he was a charismatic cross between Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury. The real Bob Marley is yet to be seen.

Bob Marley is one of the most recognizable names in the world, whose music, cultural influence and message of unity transcends borders. And while Reinaldo Marcus Green's "Bob Marley: One Love" tries to portray his influence and legacy on screen, the movie's low-risk conventional approach makes it a rather hollow experience.

The movie is as vanilla as it gets, with nothing really standing out. And that extends to lead actor Kingsley Ben-Adir, who while I think is a great actor, just isn't able to make the character work. He seems to be trying his best to replicate the legend, but is quite not all there with his portrayal that we're always aware we're watching an actor play Bob Marley and not Bob Marley himself.

While "Bob Marley: One Love" is not as boring as some of the other musical biopics I've seen (like 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' or 'The United States vs Billie Holiday'), it surely doesn't do enough to be worth recommending. It's yet another biopic that plays like a collection of vignettes than an actual narrative story, with some 'greatest hits' backing tracks. It certainly doesn't do Marley's legacy any justice.

When watching the trailers I was scared they were gonna focus more on the music than on the man, and that's exactly what happens.

I feel like they remained só surface level on Bob Marley, the man, and focused more on what his music brought. And I think that's what happens when family is heavily involved in the movie, because they will want to play safe, and that's what this movie does, with the character of Bob Marley.

The screenplay also didn't feel like a final draft, some of the dialogue felt repetitive, and some of it, quite cringy. And for negatives that's what I have.

Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch absolutely kill it, they are fantastic and an early Oscar contender performances. Another thing I was scared was the accents, because at times they can go to over the top and make it feel like a parody, but they weren't they nailed it.

The music was also emaculate, if you're a fan of his music, you'll love what they did, and how they paid their respects.

I feel like for the right audience this definitely will be amazing. It's a cool movie, fun time. I just wish we could learn more about Bob Marley, not just his music.