BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE
Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, and James Norton
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
AMARÚ
There’s a soul to Bob Marley: One Love that couldn’t be contained, even amongst a disjointed plot and surface-level storytelling. The film starts too late into the Marley’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir & Lashana Lynch) life, which results in an ending that feels like there is much more to tell. That said, once Ben-Adir and Lynch grab hold of the narrative with performances that carry the full dramatic weight, the care to authentically portray the real-life couple and their unifying message burns with a fire as strong as Bob’s once-in-a-lifetime album, Exodus. There’s a lot this movie could’ve done to elevate itself, but it will still leave you feeling uplifted.
ADRIANO
I was cautiously optimistic for Bob Marley: One Love, and while the movie sets up an interesting story, it very quickly turns into an unfocused machine of musical biopic clichés. Kingsley Ben-Adir gives a fantastic performance as Marley, but the film doesn't get to much of what made Marley such a pivotal part of history, so the image they present of him is a very dull one. I can tell that there was some real love for the subject at hand, but something was lost in translation. The final result is way too uninspired for its extraordinary subject.
PRESTON
I love Bob Marley and his music, I appreciate the timeless messages he proffers, and I am a huge reggae fan, but Bob Marley: One Love unfortunately falls short of its potential. The movie could have been so much more, but it plays like a dull, extended montage where the music (thankfully spread throughout) and the real-life snippets at the end are the only real reward. Outside of the main protagonists, the acting is uninspired and the storytelling is so surface-level that I somehow found it hard to care about a story that I already care about!
