ONE LOVE boasts of a bravura performance by Kingsley Ben Adir

Bob Marley: One Love (English) Review {2.0/5} & Review Rating

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Synopsis: BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE is the story of a legendary artist. The year is 1976. Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) is a successful singer and is based in Kingston, Jamaica with his family and band. This is a time when Jamaica is under a political crisis. Bob decides to have a peace concert. It leads to objections from those with ulterior motives. Bob, his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) and brother Don (Anthony Welsh) are attacked one day at their residence. They survive but it leaves Bob shocked. He asks Rita and the children to move to his mother’s place in Denver, USA while he moves to Europe. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Story Review: Terence Winter and Frank E Flowers’ story is inspiring and a tale waiting to be told. Terence Winter, Frank E Flowers, Zach Baylin and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s screenplay, however, is unexciting and inconsistent. Dialogues are okay. Jamaican English is difficult to comprehend and thankfully, the studio has provided subtitles.

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s direction is insipid. On the positive side, the main character is fleshed out nicely. The film begins on a dramatic note and the confrontational scenes are well executed. The songs are effortlessly woven into the narrative.

On the flipside, the film moves at a very slow space. Once Bob moves to Europe, the narrative loses its purpose, and you wonder where the film is heading. The flashback childhood portions further hamper the impact, except the one where Bob and his band get to record their first song. Some developments are not properly explained. One also can’t help but draw parallels with musical biopics like BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY [2018] and ELVIS [2022], which focused on the music as well as the ups and downs in the lives of the protagonists. BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE clearly failed to reach that level.

Performances: BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE belongs to Kingsley Ben-Adir. The actor gets into the skin of the character and delivers a flawless performance. The film becomes watchable, thanks to him and the way he has got the nuances right. Lashana Lynch doesn’t have much to do initially but later on, shines. Anthony Welsh leaves a mark. James Norton (Chris), Brian Todd Boucher (Claudie), David Marvin Kerr Jr (Junior Marvin) and Michael Gandolfini (Howard Bloom) are alright. The actors who play the kids are wasted.

Music and other technical aspects: Kris Bowers’s music is classic, and the film consists of some of the best tracks of Bob Marley. The ones that are well utilized in the film are ‘Get Up Stand Up’, ‘I Shot The Sheriff’, ‘War’, ‘Exodus’ and ‘Redemption’. Kris Bowers’s background score is subtle. Robert Elswit’s cinematography is appropriate. Chris Lowe’s production design is authentic. Anna B Sheppard’s costumes are reminiscent of the bygone era. Action is fair. Pamela Martin’s editing is painfully slow.

On the whole, BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE boasts of a bravura performance by Kingsley Ben-Adir. But due to poor execution, slow pace and negligible buzz, it will struggle to find an audience.