This story celebrates the life and music of an icon who inspired generations through his message of love and unity. On the big screen for the first time, discover Bob Marley's (Kingsley Ben-Adir) powerful story of overcoming adversity and the journey behind his revolutionary music.
It all starts in 1976 and chronicles the events through 1978 with his Bob Marley: One Love concert segment. We learn how he met his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) who is also part of his group Bob Marley and the Wailers and his collaboration with his creative team headed up by Chris Blackwell (James Norton) and his publicist, Don Taylor (Anthony Welsh). Through all the turmoil he and others endured due to the uprising in Jamaica, Bob Marley ultimately succumbs to skin cancer and passes away on May 11,1981 at the age of 36.
Others to round out the cast are Tosin Cole as Tyrone Downie, Umi Myers as Cindy Breakspeare, Nia Ashi as teen Rita Marley, Aston Barrett as family man Barrett, Anna Share Blake as Judy Mowett, Naomi Colman as Marcia Griffiths, Alexx A-Game as Peter Tosh, Michael Gandolfini as Howard Bloom and David Kerr as Junior Marvin.
This was brilliantly directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (" Monsters and Men" '18, "Joe Bell" '20, "King Richard" '21) plus TV and shorts. What absolutely amazed me was how peaceful Bob Marley was while all were losing their heads around him, which I'm sure Marley was like in real life. Green was able to harness that energy in Kingsley Ben-Adir, who portrayed Marley so as to emit those extreme opposite emotions compared to the friction at the time, and this is the product of fine directing. It was written better than I initially gave it credit for by Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers, Zach Baylin and Reinaldo Marcus Green, based on a story by Terence Winter and Frank E, Flowers. Considering there were four writers involved, I was amazed that it was as coherent as it was. Usually if a film is written by more than two writers, it seriously becomes bogged down with inconsistencies, choppiness and continuity issues. This certainly wasn't perfect--it had some choppiness and jumped around a bit, but it definitely kept my attention and was executed with conciseness all the while giving its audience an interesting story. There were many flashbacks that could've been cut to a degree that might have added to the choppiness, but still a compelling story. Ben-Adir gave a riveting performance as Marley and could receive an Oscar nod come that time. We'll see.
As biopics go, this was definitely one of the better ones--story wise. The acting, directing and the music were played out with finesse and were simply incredible. If you're a Bob Marley fan, you'll love this. His family were involved in the producing and acting of it and totally back up this film hugely. I definitely recommend this film.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG-13 108mins.
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