There are few higher albums than Exodus.
Bob Marley and the Wailer’s magnum opus is a traditional of extra than simply reggae, and there are few extra inspirational music figures than Marley himself. Bob Marley: One Love is the most recent movie to try to do justice to a music icon, however the end result, just like the Whitney Huston and Queen biopics earlier than them; falls brief because it goes for a family-approved, sanitized tackle the legend that finally has nothing to say, remembering Marley as an apolitical icon versus a revolutionary. Biopics are the popular style of Reinaldo Marcus Inexperienced – who gave us King Richard, beforehand Oscar nominated – however simply as with that movie it’s a movie that coasts by on the energy of the performances of its main stars, the extraordinarily gifted Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch, who deserve so significantly better than the hackneyed, undercooked, cliché-ridden materials that makes use of Stroll Onerous: A Dewey Cox Story as an tutorial guide versus one thing to keep away from.
We open in 1976 when political strife in Jamacia nearly results in Marley’s demise for desirous to headline a unity live performance, and after a harrowing taking pictures try he finds himself in London getting concerned within the punk scene and reinventing himself as European tour artist – slowly engaged on the recording of Exodus. It is a movie that centres a lot of its principal story across the recording of that album however lets the tempo down by flashbacks to his youth in Jamacia, by no means giving the primary storyline the prospect to breathe earlier than we’re interrupted with an ongoing arc together with his absent father, and the way he met Rita, his spouse.
It is a testomony to the abilities of Kingsley Ben-Adir that he’s capable of make Marley such a magnetic determine. The efficiency is a masterstroke – charismatic and he boasts sufficient display presence to completely purchase into the live performance scenes, which are brilliantly lit by a gifted crew. The lighting of those live performance scenes; after which once more of Jamacia and punk-era London, introduced right here as a dystopia, are among the many movie’s strongest belongings: technically it seems to be good. Vibrant, vibrant and alive – Bob Marley: One Love feels destined to propel Ben-Adir to even higher fame than earlier than. It’s only a disgrace that the script is so pedestrian.
There’s no stress right here; sure it’s a real story however there’s no suspense even within the preliminary taking pictures when Marley is sort of killed. It feels protected. There’s no depth – the characters are thinly drawn and the Wailers are hardly ever given the house that they should develop. The complexities of Marley’s life simply aren’t featured and are glossed over, and the authenticity that the producers go for consequently, doesn’t really feel earned or trustworthy. It’s a watered-down, protected affair with little to shout for – a smoother pacing construction may have actually helped this one however the flashbacks and the protected storyline that’s unafraid to drag punches make Bob Marley: One Love a misfire regardless of its good intentions. We must be wanting extra at Priscilla, Elvis and Rocketman as examples and fewer at properly; all the pieces else.
