Bob Marley: One Love

A Marley fan, I went in worried having read the critics reviews ultimately saying it's "ok" with some great performances but a missed opportunity as it's bubblegum Marley.

I disagree, this was a compelling and entertaining movie, sure there is some rich material that was left untapped, but it would take a Netflix series to unwrap his life - one day maybe!

Endorsed by and produced by the Marley family, it's clear that they wanted it to be about hope, love, unity and the making of his definitive album; Exodus. But they also did touch on some of the tougher material - but maybe didn't dwell on it as much as the critics would like. We don't witness his ill health and death, but do we really need to? I don't think so.

Lots of references and small touches that will resonate with those who know his story well, that may be missed by others. If you know, you know and that adds an extra layer, but none of that knowledge is needed to enjoy the movie.

The soundtrack is of course fantastic and acts as a narrative through the movie, there is emotion, joy and a clear mission.

A very well executed, and acted, biopic that although pulls a few punches, doesn't fail to entertain and give the viewer a window into Marley. Yes it leaves you wanting more...but thats fine by me. Come on Netflix :)

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.

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.

It's fine, just nothing all that memorable.

I had a pleasant enough time viewing 'Bob Marley: One Love', though it does kinda seem a bit hollow post-watch - as in I don't feel like I've learned much nor actually seen that much, the movie has like three noteworthy events but then that's kinda it. The music from those involved also didn't feel amazingly utilised, I guess they didn't want it to be too jukebox-y.

Kingsley Ben-Adir does well in the lead role as Bob Marley himself. I'm not a Marley superfan or anything close, I basically only know his biggest hits, but the resemblance of Ben-Adir seemed off to me - a thought that was only solidified when the real Marley appears via archive footage at the end. Perhaps that's just me, though.

Lashana Lynch gives a good performance, spearheading the rest of the cast who are alright; interesting to see James Norton, Michael Gandolfini too... even if I didn't realise it was Gandolfini until the credits. Overall, it does feel like the film only scratches the surface of Marley's life. I wanted more from it, but to be fair it is still a decent flick in my opinion.

We do have a lengthy cast list here but One Love is anchored/carried by 2 performances. Kingsley Ben-Adir has the screen presence to carry this project, he nails the accent and even has a lot of physicality to his work in One Love. The emotion he brings to the table helps you understand why Bob Marley was idolized and beloved by so many. I wish the movie had explored more periods of Bob Marley's life just so we could have seen what Kingsley would have brought to them. I expected Ben-Adir to be good but the more surprising but equally impressive acting came from Lashana Lynch as Bob Marley's wife Rita. I've only seen Lashana previously in tentpole-esque studio fare (No Time to Die and Captain Marvel) but she transforms in One Love and I hope both her and Kingsley get some awards consideration. To the movie's credit, both Bob and Rita are presented as complex and multi-layered characters and represent the clay that Kingsley and Lashana moulded beautifully with their work in One Love.

It's a more minor note but one of the surprise boxes One Love ticks is that I think it's filmed/shot well. The camera work highlights some of Jamaica's natural beauty but also shows some of the less camera friendly aspects of it as well. The CGI isn't top-notch but it wasn't bad enough to draw attention to. I have a friend who I saw the movie with who visited Jamaica and she was calling out parts of the country she toured in her vacation. I can't call One Love a visual tour de force but there were shots littered throughout the movie that caught my attention and I think it's worth crediting the team for their work in this film.

So far, you may be confused on why my rating for Bob Marley: One Love is so low and it does have a lot of notable pluses. But the unfortunate truth of the matter is that despite the acting and cinematography being striking and stimulating, the odd structure the movie insists on using to reveal its narrative really hampers the proceedings. My best friend compared the movie's structure as counting to 10 as if it were 1,4,7,2,5. The film is disorganized and almost confusing unless you're intimately familiar with Marley's life (I'm passively familiar at best, I did like some of his music and I knew he passed away relatively young). Subplots are created and dropped (e.g. Marley's greedy business manager, the drama surrounding Marley's father, the political unrest in Jamaica in the mid 1970s) frequently and it helps stop the movie from gelling together appropriately. It also dampens the impact of Marley's passing because the fact he's terminally ill is introduced so late that you can't get emotionally invested. There's a pretty concrete formula about how to operate in this genre and while I admire the screenwriter's attempt to try something different, it does the movie a disservice instead.

Everything to create a compelling and informative film about Bob Marley's life was here. We have some terrific performances, some interesting cinematography and Marley and his story are inspiring and his message still prescient even today. But the result of One Love is a puzzling and mildly disappointing misfire, I understand that the studio and the creative team wanting to circumvent the formula but you still have to justify it by showing us a new angle or creating something memorable. Bob Marley: One Love as a product is fine but I think its subject deserved a better movie. I'd really rate One Love somewhere between a 6-7 but I rounding down because of what they squandered in this production. One Love is still worth a watch but as we frequently get some really fantastic movies in this genre, I'd recommend it only to Marley fans as there's better films about other musicians available for your viewing pleasure.