Bob Marley is one of the most interesting musical artists of the 20th century. But for his level, there are almost criminally few different documentaries and feature films about him. «Bob Marley: One Love» tries to remedy the situation a bit by telling the musician’s story in the format of a biopic. In our review, we tell you how it turned out.
Genre biopic
Director Reinaldo Marcus Green
Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, James Norton, Lashana Lynch, Michael Gandolfini
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2024
Website IMDb
The movie tells the story of different moments in the life of Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir), the most famous reggae singer in the world. He tried to bring positive changes in people’s lives through his music. Not everyone liked this, and Bob had his enemies. But even the danger to his own life and the lives of his loved ones did not make Marley stop. That’s why he stuck to his ideals all his life.
A good contemporary biopic is not enough to be just a biopic. Usually, an outstanding film in this genre covers a specific event or situation to become not just a retelling of history, but a worthy work of fiction with its own ideas. A striking example is the recent *Napoleon і *Ferrari.
The main disadvantage of the movie «Bob Marley: One Love» is that it has no ideas or morals. It takes a bright performer and demonstrates various facts from his life. It shows beautifully and truthfully, but without depth and staging. That’s why sometimes it seems that you are just watching a set of scenes that are connected exclusively by the main character, nothing more.
At the same time, Kingsley Ben-Adir was able to perfectly recreate the image of Marley. The actor here shines with the energy he was charged with while watching the movie. His movements, facial expressions, and voice become almost otherworldly in their positive impact. The movie is definitely worth watching just for the actor’s performance. After watching it, you will almost certainly want to know more about Marley.
And this is also a nuance that hides another disadvantage of the movie. Even though it runs for two hours, it is quite superficial. It seems that it is based on a page from «Wikipedia» about Bob Marley, and there was no additional research at all. Yes, it covers all the key events, but it doesn’t dive too deeply into Bob Marley’s life. There are no interesting angles or unexpected facts, and you won’t discover a new side of the singer after watching it.
This raises questions about the film crew, the scriptwriters, and the preparation for filming in general. Because in 2024, it’s a bit strange to watch a biopic that treats its main subject so emotionlessly. Bob Marley *is* an extremely creative person, but for some reason the movie omits the nuances of his work. Some films about less interesting people have turned out to be more inspiring than «Bob Marley: One Love» because of the production and script.
For a movie about a musician, there are not many musical moments. It’s not a musical, although it doesn’t have to be, but for some reason music takes up a very small part of the movie. Yes, these are all famous Marley hits. Perhaps that is why they decided not to use them very often, because they are already incredibly popular. But still, this decision seems a bit strange.
The combination of artistic decisions in cinema leads to the fact that the main incentive to go to the movies is precisely the fascination with Bob Marley’s life. That is, the movie doesn’t work in isolation from its main figure, it can’t establish itself as an independent project. And this is usually a sign of a good biopic, when even a random person who hasn’t heard anything about the central figure in the story still enjoys watching it.
The movie treats Marley’s figure with dignity and conveys all his charisma, but leaves no room for reflection. The main character here is almost a saint — and this is true, but why watch the movie? Why not just read the real historical evidence? Because they will even better allow you to dive into the details of Marley’s ideology and the reasons why he decided to go his own way.
No other flashback in the history of «Bob Marley: One Love» gives you the same feeling. Because of this, longtime fans of the musician will be bored while watching, and people for whom Marley’s music is unfamiliar will not be able to feel the thematic depth and various emotional nuances.
It’s still a good movie technically and even script-wise. It’s just that with all the elements they had at their disposal, the creators could have made something absolutely outstanding. Or something more inspiring and alive. Instead, they chose the safest route of a biopic, which emphasizes the word «biographical» rather than «film». And this is its biggest failure.