Bob Marley: One Love (2024)

I will admit that I didn’t know too much about Bob Marley and after sitting through this movie, I still don’t think I know Bob Marley. The film follows Bob Marley as he goes from Jamaica to London, all round Europe before arriving at the One Love music show. 

There are two types of biopics, there are those like Rocketman which you feel are giving you a warts and all account of the life of in this film Elton John. It doesn’t try and paint him to be a nice person but a flawed person and then there are those that don’t really do this and paint either a false picture or a vague one. This film is the latter. I think I wanted something a bit more substantial than what we got. The film felt too rushed and could have easily benefited from an extra 30-40 minutes.

The performances are what makes this a four star film for me. Kingsley Ben-Adir gives a superb performance as Bob Marley. He makes the story come alive and made me actually made me care about someone that I don’t really know much about. Lashana Lynch is equally as good as Rita and the heart of the story I think is the dynamic between the two of them. 

Despite my issues with the overall story this is definitely a film that should be seen. It might help if you know a bit about Bob Marley but the performances alone are enough to make this worth watching. Just not sure that it’s worth going to the cinema for.