Bob Marley: One Love

Super acting..!! captured the essence of Marley...maybe a little more of the ending but overall great story of a hero who only wanted peace in his country...warming, simple and well acted...breath of fresh air with all the hype and mega productions going around at the moment

it would have been much better to use one of his sons

One of the best of 2024, beautiful tribute to the Bob Marley legacy. Marketing team did an awful job promoting this movie. Deserves more recognition. 43% Critics rating < 91% audience, says it all.

It's worth the watch, espically for someone like me who dosen't know a ton about Bob Marley.

Good film, Kingsley Ben-Adir was great at playing bob marley. Great use of songs.

[Let me preface this review by saying I know nothing about Bob Marley. I wanted to see this film for Kingsley Ben-Adir’s portrayal of this iconic figure.] Bob Marley: One Love is the story of the titular musician’s life between the “Smile Jamaica” and the “Bob Marley: One Love” concerts. It is a standard biopic and shows his rise to global fame and the relational challenges that come along with it. The film opening and closing with intertitles seems a safe way to frame the story... a montage (like we saw in Golda) would have been a stronger opening to set the tone for the film. Kingsley's portrayal of Marley is well-rounded and shows depth and understanding of the person. His Jamaican accent sounds hyper-authentic, but unfortunately to the point where it's incredibly tough to understand him. I missed half his lines. I would have appreciated more pronunciation from him, similar to the way Lynch delivered her lines. Kingsley brought a physicality to this role, in his appearance - no doubt thanks to the makeup & hairstyling department - shot out to them for the dreads!!! - which his features are perfect for, but also in his mannerisms and movement. This aspect of his acting made Bob Marley tangible and believable. Lashana Lynch brought power to this film. Bob Marley is the soul and of course the voice, but Rita felt like the heart. Her survival from the shooting showed resilience, and that set the tone for her character throughout the rest of the film. She has some of the most memorable lines from the film and delivers them with that same strength. There are a lot of missed opportunities to take creative risks with Marley’s flashbacks. With a lot of the missed dialogue, these scenes felt powerful - which was supported by the score - but lacked the meaning written into the script but missed in the line delivery. The film is titled after the concert by the same name… but I wanted to see more about Bob Marley’s life, he himself. Everyone knows he’s musically famous, and ignited the global reggae movement, but what about his younger life? There were flashbacks to his life as a teenager and his budding relationship with Rita, but those were cut short. I wanted more of that - how did he become who he is? Also, the weight of the gang violence in Jamaica was lost. It was mentioned and touched on in some short scenes, established so that is not missing from the context, but again: an opening montage to set the stage would have been more impactful. Good performances, great hairstyling - and the music of course is the driving factor throughout the whole film. Nothing crazy special, but definitely worth a watch.

Hollywood shouldn’t have told this story. It has the potential to have an entirely different world of a deep cultural depth. The whole movie feels like a pitch for the movie. The lead actor has nothing in common with the countless interviews I’ve seen of the man himself both physically and spiritually.

The music is great, but the storyline is a love story through Rita Marley's perspective , I feel it could have had more passion, if she intended it to be a love story!

Wanted to like it more as a huge Bob Marley fan but it felt very thin. Not much to it. Hearing the songs is always great and was the bright spot for me.

So I really didn't know much about Bob Marley and I thought this was good film about certain time of the famous musician's life. The only drawback for me was I could barely understand what was being said with the never authentic but thick accents. I probably need to watch it again with subtitles and I probably would like it better.