★★★
Usually writing reviews doesn’t feel like work. Usually, I am excited to go home and write down all my thoughts on the movie I just saw. However, after seeing Bob Marley: One Love, writing the review felt like work.
Why, you may ask?
Because I saw the movie, and as soon as I left, I had absolutely no thoughts about it. That isn’t to say it’s bad - it isn’t bad by any means. It just has nothing to it. It’s fine, it’s about as watchable as any musical biopic, but as a film it had almost nothing to offer. It’s let down by a screenplay that claims to be about something, but never actually explores Bob Marley’s life in any meaningful ways. For instance, at the start, there seemed to be the promise that this would have a political element to it. But that never really materialized. Instead, we get a few conversation scenes and a line of text in the coda of the film that relate to this but never explore Marley’s perspective besides how he wants peace. He and his wife both get shot early in the film, and yet a few scenes later it’s like they forget about it. When the movie began, I was overcome with surprise at how it actually seemed to be more interesting than the average biopic, and yet by the midpoint I was left sitting in disappointment after coming to the realization that this movie was really just looking at Marley on the surface level, never daring to make artistic statements or go deeper into the subject. Like most musical biopics now, it played it way too safe, which resulted in a film so forgettable I was done thinking about it the second it ended. It’s just dull — it felt empty in a way.
Every little thing is not all right for Bob Marley: One Love. Another entry in a long line of formulaic musical biopics with no clear voice in the filmmaking to help distinguish it. Kingsley Ben-Adir was good here as he fully disappeared into the role. Still, he and the equally talented Lashana Lynch struggle to elevate the film’s overall lack of tension, depth, and momentum. I went in with low expectations and still managed to leave disappointed. Maybe bigger Bob Marley fans will enjoy it, as it’s an okay film mostly let down by its script. The music is still great though!
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