A One Mann’s Movies review of “Bob Marley: One Love” (2024).
I must be about the last person to get to see “Bob Marley: One Love” at the cinema. Holidays and other movie new releases have got in the way. That being said, it has been 5 weeks in the UK charts (and is still at number 3 in the charts having made over £15 million)… so maybe it has a couple more weeks anyway.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
It’s the 1970’s and a time of near civil war in Jamaica as rival gangs align with different political parties desperate for power. The already famous Bob Marley plans a concert for peace but that puts him, his band and his family in danger from the out-of-control gangs.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Drug use, moderate violence, infrequent strong language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton.
Directed by: Reinaldo Marcus Green.
Written by: Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers, Zach Baylin & Reinaldo Marcus Green.
Twitter Handle: #BobMarleyOneLove.
Running Time: 1h 47m.
Kingsley Ben-Adir reggae-ing out as Bob Marley. (Source: Paramount Pictures).
“Bob Marley: One Love” Review:
Positives:
- The film doesn’t attempt to reproduce Marley’s tracks but uses his voice on the movie… which is, of course, magnificant. Lovers of his music will (and obviously have) delighted in the film.
- Kingsley Ben-Adir (so good as Malcolm X in One Night in Miami and more recently as Ken – no, the other one – in “Barbie“) is fine as Marley. But he is utterly upstaged by Lashana Lynch as his long-suffering wife Rita. There’s one scene, in a Parisian street, that is particularly Oscar-worthy.
- There are some memorable visuals in the film: Marley as a young boy running from a crop fire, closely followed by a rider on horseback emerging from the flames, is a case in point…. a ‘wow’ moment.
Negatives:
- This is a version of the life of Bob Marley but it feels like a distinctly sanitised version. (This isn’t a surprise given that the family are the producers of the film.) Most of the time Marley comes over as ‘Saint Bob’ and his Boris-rivalling marital infidelities, resulting in his 11 or 13 children depending on what accounts you believe, are only hinted at. There’s a really good and meaty Marley biopic to be made, but this rather misses the mark.
- I don’t want to be rude or perceived racist… but a large proportion of the dialogue in this film was voiced with such strong accents that it was incomprehensible to my ears. I could always get the gist, but sometimes only that.
- I struggled to understand what happened in the “shooting”. (As shown in the trailer) Marley is shot at close range (Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm) yet seems to be functioning perfectly normally after the shooting and later at the hospital. And surely if Rita was shot almost at point-blank range, as shown, her dreadlocks wouldn’t have “stopped the bullet from entering her brain”.
- I like James Norton… but this film gives him something of a non-role.
A magnetic Lashana Lynch steals the acting limelight as Rita Marley. (Source: Paramount Pictures).
Summary Thoughts on “Bob Marley: One Love”
It’s an entertaining enough biopic, with some memorable visuals and solid performances (and more than that for Lynch). But, for me, it’s not the definitive Marley.
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Trailer for “Bob Marley: One Love”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajw425Kuvtw .
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