Bob Marley: One Love

I know my movie reviews aren’t the most popular blog posts I write, but I really enjoy them. I’m not going to stop them even though the numbers suck. They are going to keep on coming as long as I continue to go to the movies on a regular basis. With all that said, here is another movie review. On Wednesday night I went to see the new Bob Marley movie. I didn’t know anything about him or his life, so I went in just hoping to get a little more insight into his life. I like his music, but I don't listen to it a lot, if ever. Probably just when my dad plays one of his songs in the car or on the golf course. I think this movie was phenomenal. Going into it with no information made the experience that much better too. It was a wild ride of emotions. The overall message was so beautiful and happy, but the portrayal of struggle in Bob’s life really brought you back and forth with emotion. I knew him as the reggae music king with a great name for a band. I didn’t know his movement for love and peace. He had some fucking balls on him. He did what he thought was right and wanted to heal people through his music. The acting was also amazing. Although the cast list wasn’t riddled with big names and Hollywood stars, this cast did a fantastic job. The Jamaican accents were on point. The actor who portrayed Bob, Kingsley Ben-Adir, took on, what I would think, is not an easy role to nail. Playing a real-life person, nonetheless, a superstar can't be a walk in the park. Getting the right mannerisms and movements takes a lot of studying. One of my favorite moments was during a concert, Bob was dancing in such a unique way. I really was like “Who came up with these moves!?”. At the end of the film, they showed real footage of Bob dancing in the exact same way. I love that biopics of older artists are starting to become more common. I know there is a Bob Dylan movie in production. They made the Elton John one, Rocket Man. I love rewatching Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury biopic. I think this Bob Marley movie takes the cake so far for me. The critic and rotten tomato reviews bash some of these and I think it's kind of unfair. They gave Bohemian Rhapsody an awful score, but Rami Malek won a Oscar for it. I didn’t like the musical-type film Rocket Man was. I think Bohemian Rhapsody was great. There was just too much hate and negativity between friends, family, and bandmates. Which isn’t the movie's fault, but doesn’t make me feel the same way this Bob Marley movie did. Although there is a lot of violence, it isn’t because of Bob. The whole movie is overcoming that violence and spreading the word of peace. Bob’s relationship with his family and band stays very positive throughout the movie. Again, I know this is portrayed and not exactly how things went. It’s just the feelings I felt throughout the entire runtime. A surprising part of this movie was how open they were about Bob’s marijuana use. I know he has become a face of marijuana, there is even Bob Marley rolling papers sold at our convenience store down the street. I thought the family would’ve wanted to put that image aside for the film, but they didn’t. I like that they kept it real and transparent. I highly recommend going to the theater to see this movie, or maybe wait for it to come out on streaming platforms. So far, the movies I have seen at the theater have been really enjoyable. I kind of want to hate a movie. I’ll review them how I see it though. There were some really good looking trailers, so maybe there will be a rotten egg amongst them. Happy Friday and enjoy the long weekend!