Bob Marley: One Love Review: More Films Should Care This Much About Its Audience

​​Musical biopics are a dime a dozen. They most often come served as huge dynamic films with dazzling set pieces and promise you the definitive story of an icon.

Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and Whitney Houston have all been victims of the formula in recent years. Their stories have enough pain and suffering that studios see their complex lives as the perfect opportunity to deliver a 120+ minute commodified motion picture to a guaranteed audience who will show up for the promise of a good soundtrack.

Upon the announcement that Bob Marley would be next up to the plate, it felt inevitable that there could only be one fate for the reggae legend.

Promising the never-before-told story, Bob Marley: One Love marketed itself as a film about overcoming adversity, depicting the link between the icon, his music and his message.

Bob Marley: One Love takes place in Marley's twilight years and is a gentle, meditative and focused story about grappling with mortality and legacy.

It has enough respect for its subject while also being critical of their shortcomings but in a way that does not seek to place blame. Similarly, this was also reflected in Bradley Cooper's Maestro last year, and the two films share a commonality: the families were involved.

Cedella, Orly, Ziggy and Rita Marley all served as producers on Bob Marley: One Love, and it is startling how much of a difference it makes when a filmmaker is in conversation with those who loved and knew the film's subject on a level of intimacy only found among family.

That familial love is the beating heart of the film. It was made with evident compassion in the same way Marley made his music. Rarely does a film care so deeply about the message it leaves its audience with, but Bob Marley: One Love wants to embody Marley's words, who said, "The music is the message".

Playing Bob Marley is Kingsley Ben-Adir, who takes on the weight of portraying another beloved icon. He is no stranger to stepping into familiar shoes, having played Malcolm X in One Night in Miami and Ken in Barbie in just the last few years.

Though tasked with upholding a legend, Ben-Adir will ensure you see the human first. As a compassionate actor, he could not be more perfect for the role.

Opposite him is Lashana Lynch, who portrays the complex nuance of Rita Marley with spectacular attention to detail.

Lynch and Ben-Adir are the perfect match, and their powerhouse performances keep Reinaldo Marcus Green's painfully contemporary film so magnetic.

Green is also no stranger to telling true-life stories as his previous film, King Richard, depicted the life of Serena and Venus Williams' father and led Will Smith to his first Oscar.

His direction is versatile and flexible, dependent on the story. Just as King Richard embodied the ping-pong nature of tennis, his work on Bob Marley: One Love is lyrical and loving. There's warmth in each frame, regardless of whether the film is in Jamaica or London. He wants the audience to be held by Marley's nature and nurtured by his message.

Respect as deep as Green's for his subject is rare and is worth celebrating. He understood that Bob Marley saw his message of delivering a message to the world as something larger than self, but also recognizes that results in insurmountable pressure too big for one person to carry the burden alone.

With audiences so used to decades-spanning stories at this point, most people will walk in expecting something like Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman. We are so used to digesting a life in a movie's runtime that many people may feel Bob Marley: One Love has cheated them of the narrative they deserve.

Lynch, as Rita, says something poignant amidst an argument with Ben-Adir's Marley: "Swim in pollution, get polluted". It serves as a metaphor for how we digest art in a world where everything is "content". Just as diet is essential to physical well-being, what we watch, read and listen to is critical to our spiritual well-being.

Bob Marley: One Love may not have invented a new perfect formula, but it tries to break an old one that has run dry. Its care is its medal of honor, and audiences should welcome a film that cares about its subject as much as it cares about its audience.