Bob Marley: One Love review

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE: 

KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR SHINES AS ICONIC REGGAE SINGER-SONGWRITER IN AVERAGE MUSIC BIOPIC! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Kingsley Ben-Adir in Bob Marley: One Love

 

Before anyone asks yes, this was the better movie to see on Valentine’s Day than Madame Web! Kingsley Ben-Adir (Vera, One Night in Miami…, Barbie) transforms into one of the most beloved and influential music figures of all time in Bob Marley: One Love, the new film from Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, Joe Bell, King Richard) and a biopic on legendary singer-songwriter Bob Marley. 

I should make this clear, I’m no expert on Bob Marley I’ve been well familiar with his music for a very long time, but I’ve never actually gotten around to reading up on his life. So, I won’t be able to determine how accurate this movie is to what really happened. 

The movie looked promising judging by the trailers and Reinaldo Marcus Green already gave us an incredible biopic with 2021’s King Richard so I had a lot of faith that he would give Bob Marley the same amount of love as he did Richard and Venus Williams. Not quite! 

Bob Marley: One Love isn’t a terrible movie and Kingsley Ben-Adir gives an amazing performance as Marley, but it feels too derivative of other biopics to the point where the ending text tells a much more interesting movie than the one I just saw. 

The film is set during the last few years of Bob Marley’s life and sees Marley working to craft a new sound to bring his and Jamaican music in general to the world amidst intense political uproar in his hometown. Aiding him on his quest to bring peace to Jamaica and the world through his music is his wife, Rita (Lashana Lynch-Marvel Cinematic Universe, No Time to Die, The Woman King) who is also a member of his band, Bob Marley and the Wailers. 

The film also stars James Norton (Belle, Mr. Turner, Little Women (2019) as Christopher Blackwell, Tosin Cole (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Souvenir: Parts I and II, Till) as Tyrone Downie, Aston Barrett Jr. as his father Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Anthony Welsh (Red Tails, The Personal History of David Copperfield) as Don Taylor, Sevana as Judy Mowatt, Michael Gandolfini (The Deuce, Cherry, The Many Saints of Newark) as Howard Bloom, and Nadine Marshall (A Street Cat Named Bob, Paddington 2, The Silent Twins) as Cedella Malcolm. 

Overall, Bob Marley: One Love could have been a great and inspirational music biopic, but aside from a great Kingsley Ben-Adir performance there really isn’t much in it that sets it apart from all the other music biopics. No pun intended, but it hits every beat you’d expect from a movie like this and also doesn’t quite know which story it wants to focus on. 

The film starts off with Marley trying to do a peace concert in Jamaica before a big election followed by an intense assassination attempt that is resolved rather quickly, then it’s about him and his band recording the Exodusalbum and their rise to international fame, and finally his illness and what he wants his legacy to be. All of these sound like amazing stories that I would like to see explored in a biopic, but the film is so jumbled together and awkwardly paced that it’s hard to be that emotionally invested in these moments in his life. 

It's also an example of a movie where the ending montage and text would have made a better movie than what we got. Again, I knew very little about Marley’s actual life going into this and during that montage before the credits I was like “Man, why couldn’t the movie include all of this?” because I was a lot more fascinated by the actual footage of Marley at the end than Kingsley Ben-Adir giving a strong portrayal of the man in a biopic that just goes through the motions. 

Despite the underwhelming material, Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley is the reason to even check this movie out. He perfectly encompasses Marley and captures his appearance, mannerisms, and speaking voice. 

Honestly, everyone is bringing their A-game to this movie even if the movie itself isn’t all that good so I respect the cast for giving their all and not once phoning it in. Probably the second best performance after Ben-Adir is Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley who carries a large chunk of the film’s emotional weight and does it very effectively. 

Of course, the songs are awesome it’s Bob F*cking Marley and the film showcases many of the singer-songwriter’s best work. However, many of the songs don’t fit during certain scenes and feels like they were included out of obligation and not to progress the story along. 

It is also disappointing that we don’t see the ending concert which could have made for a powerful emotional climax even if the movie itself wasn’t that great. Sadly, the movie ends as he’s going on-stage to perform it and we never see that concert, as incredibly flawed as Bohemian Rhapsody was at least we got to see that reenactment of Queen’s Live Aid performance. 

Bob Marley: One Love isn’t terrible nor would I even consider it one of the worst biopics I’ve ever seen. But because it relies heavily on tired biopic clichés we’ve seen a million times before it doesn’t leave a lasting impression once it’s over even if Kingsley Ben-Adir’s performance is stellar and the film’s heart is in the right place. 

It is the better movie that came out on Valentine’s Day, but that’s not much of a recommendation. You’re better off staying home and watching Rocketman, Walk the Line, or Straight Outta Compton instead.