Bob Marley: One Love Review: A good, but paint-by-numbers biopic for an extraordinary artist

Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch are terrific in Bob Marley: One Love, an otherwise ordinary biopic.

Bob Marley: One Love mostly focuses on Marley’s time in Europe where he recorded the Exodus album. The fallout from Jamaica’s civil war and flashbacks to Marley’s youth serve as the backdrop. If you know anything about Marley, I’m not sure One Love digs up any new ground.

After Marley, his wife and his manager are wounded during a home shooting in Jamaica. Marley heads to Europe for safety reasons and begins experimenting with new sounds for a new album. During the European tour, Marley’s popularity explodes to a worldwide level of fervor. With popularity comes the downside of staying true to who Marley is, which his wife Rita (Lynch) never lets him forget.

The strength of One Love is in the relationship between Bob and Rita. Ben-Adir is terrific and manages to capture Bob’s speaking and singing voice. However, it’s Lynch who provides the film with a shot of adrenaline and perspective the film and Bob need. One Love spends more narrative focus on the making of “Exodus” and music than on their relationship and Marley’s inner struggle.

The flashback sequences try to flesh out the start of Rita and the Wailer’s first success, but the flashback scenes have one major problem. The younger actors playing Bob feel like a different character than Ben-Adir’s Bob rather than a younger version of the same character. Nia Ashi is much better at portraying young Rita with the same fire as Lynch.

Overall, the performances by Lynch and Ben-Adir make Bob Marley: One Love a good biopic. Unfortunately, the film’s focus is set so squarely on the music, that it loses focus of the film’s messenger and his message. One Love fails to rival recent musical biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman in telling a story about the artist who brings the music to life.

With the overview of One Love complete, let’s take a closer look at the elements that stood out for good and bad in this Bob Marley biopic.

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Struggle for Peace

One Love does touch on Bob’s search for inner peace and turmoil in Jamaica. However, once Bob leaves Jamaica, the desire for peace in a world that’s on fire goes by the wayside.

Focusing on the music, European tour and backstabbing representative are worthy inclusions in a Marley documentary. However, using these elements as the central focus gives One Love a surface-level perspective for the most part. One Love shines brightest when the music stops and lets Ben-Adir as Bob voice his frustrations usually to his wife, Rita.

Bob’s return to Jamaica misses the mark. The film includes the crucial moment where Bob essentially forgives the young man who shot him and his wife. While it’s a powerful moment and Ben-Adir’s best as Bob, there’s no development in showing Bob finding peace. Moments before, Rita had to convince Bob to return to Jamaica.

The return to Jamaica in One Love leaves important character development on the cutting room floor.

Bob Marley’s One Love

The relationship between Bob and Rita is told in present-day and flashback form when they were teenagers.

In the present, Rita and Bob clash over his decision to leave her and their children in the United States while he stays in Europe. Rita takes issue with Bob leaving her and their children for a long time. He also abandoned his desire for peace in Jamaica. Rita’s strength throughout One Love is incredible. During the home invasion, she was shot as well as Bob. Yet, it’s Rita who is the most passionate about Bob returning to Jamaica.

The flashbacks show how Rita and Bob’s relationship changed from childhood friends to something more. One Love does show how Bob Marley and The Wailers ended up recording their first album but doesn’t show how the band came together, which is critical to Bob’s struggle.

The scenes featuring Rita and Bob provide the best insight into the battle Bob is trying to fight.

Bob Marley: One Love final thoughts

One Love is a good biopic for a person deserving so much more. The soundtrack and performances prove Marley’s cinematic potential. Unfortunately, using the troubled artist trope and focusing so much on making one album, even a masterful one like Exodus, takes away from Marley’s quest for inner peace.

If you don’t know anything about Marley, then you’ll probably enjoy this safe, by-the-numbers approach. The music of Marley as well as the message of peace and forgiveness still makes One Love a worthwhile biopic, just not a genre-defying one like Oppenheimer, Walk the Line or Rocketman.

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