Bob Marley: One Love is a biopic following the life of beloved reggae superstar Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) from 1976-1978.
The exposition of the film is the introduction of the conflict between Marley and his friends and managers about the peace concert that Marley wants to headline to protest against the violent crime that was taking over Jamaica in 1976. He convinces his colleagues to follow through with the concert, which makes Bob the target of a home invasion, where himself, his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch), and Bob's friend, Don Taylor (Anthony Welsh), were shot, leading to Marley's departure from Jamaica to Europe for his own safety.
The change in scenery inspires Marley to take his music to the next level which he does throughout the rest of the movie, facing challenges internally and externally along the way.
Bob Marley: One Love is historically accurate to the events that were depicted in Marley's life, to the credit of his family having involvement in production. Although, many aspects of his life were left out of the final product, like Marley's infidelity. Since the movie begins in 1976, the audience is limited to short flashbacks of Marley's childhood and rise in the music industry. Due to the movie having a relatively short run time (1hr 47 min) in comparison to other biopics about musicians, like Elvis (2h 39 min), Bohemian Rhapsody (2h 17 min), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2h 23 min), portions of the film felt rushed in comparison to others in order to fit the story into 107 minutes of film. If the film was longer and dived deeper into the left out areas of Bob's life, then the pacing of the film would not have suffered as much as it did.
The soundtrack of the film is legendary with hits like "Exodus," "Jamming," "No Woman No Cry," "Redemption Song," and many other of Marley's best songs. In addition to the beautiful songs, the film is also stylistically stunning and captures the spirit of Marley's message and music. Kingsley Ben-Adir was a phenomenal casting for Marley, and all of the other actors played their roles well.
The formula for a phenomenal movie was put forth for this movie, but unfortunately was slightly underwhelming due to the pacing issues of the film, and crucial events not being included in the project; however, if you are a Bob Marley fan, or want to learn more about Bob Marley, this is a solid adaptation of the life of the reggae icon.