Bob Marley – One Love review: Silly, superficial biopic of reggae great is a wasted opportunity

Here is the scene where the central genius writes his magnum opus off the cuff; here is another where a gaggle of one-dimensional industry sharks try to convince the god-like protagonist that they know best.

And then there is the obligatory success montage, replete with random, screen-sized city names, cartoonish chart scrolls (so we know the artist is finally selling records) and unintentionally hilarious images of fresh-out-of-the-box vinyl, flying off the shelves (so we know how fast they’re selling). We should have seen this coming.

Bryan Singer’s lousy, lopsided Freddie Mercury biopic made a gazillion dollars at the box-office in 2018, and its leading man, Rami Malek, won an Oscar for his troubles. As a result of that film’s dizzying success, it appears we’re destined to endure more like it.

To be fair, Bob Marley: One Love isn’t all bad. A commendable, charismatic talent, Kingsley Ben-Adir works hard as the inimitable reggae legend. Marley’s sublime songbook shines brightly, regardless of the evasive soap opera unfolding around it – and that 104-minute run-time is a blessing.

There’s a handful of sequences that almost trick us into believing that maybe, just maybe, this clumsy, clouded picture will find its way. It doesn’t, but the hope is what keeps us going, even when everything else disappoints.

Hazy and hurried, Green’s film begins with a conflicted Marley moving his family out of Jamaica – and it ends with a career-defining performance in Kingston. Everything in between is a blur.

Green (King Richard), directing and co-writing with Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street), among others, folds a complex political scenario into a relatively straightforward tale of pop superstardom. It’s the late 1970s, and Jamaica is on the brink of civil war. Rival political parties have divided the nation, and violent gang leaders have turned the streets into a war zone.

Already a star at this stage, ­Marley (portrayed with gutsy sincerity by Ben-Adir), isn’t so naive to believe a gig will fix everything, but he is nonetheless confident that the 1976 Smile Jamaica ­Concert will inspire hope.

A couple of days before the gig, following a fruitful band practice, Marley’s home is broken into by armed intruders. Thankfully, the gunmen are uncoordinated, and though Marley and his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) are wounded in the attack, the Smile Jamaica event goes ahead, with the reggae icon and his other half in tow.

It’s like something you’d find on the Hallmark Channel at the weekend

Afterwards, arrangements are made for Rita and their children to fly to America. Mr ­Marley, meanwhile, will lie low in ­London, where he also hopes to redevelop his sound. With invaluable assistance from his backing band, The Wailers, and producer Chris Blackwell (James Norton), Jamaica’s finest will eventually rediscover his groove.

Patchy, predictable, loaded with cliches, Green’s film goes about its business in a flimsy, casual manner, without ever committing to a single plot element. The result is a flavourless, structureless picture that occasionally resembles an elongated trailer for itself. It’s a silly, superficial display, like something you’d find on the Hallmark Channel at the weekend, and I came away with more questions than I had going in. That’s a bad sign.

Cursed with a dodgy wig of dreadlocks, Ben-Adir tries hard to make something special out of this, the biggest film role of his career. Alas, his performance amounts to little more than a well-rehearsed impersonation – it’s fun to watch, but it rarely gets to the heart of what made Marley such an extraordinary figure.

Here, Marley is occasionally reduced to a watery caricature; a happy-go-lucky music-maker who loved his tunes, his marijuana and his football. It’s as deep as a puddle, basically.

Fewer collaborators might have helped – four screenwriters are credited on Bob Marley: One Love, and the film was assembled and produced with the Marley family’s co-operation. Thus, it’s too cosy, too clean, too afraid to get its hands dirty.

There’s a sense throughout of a story being dragged and pulled in opposite directions. The complicated Bob and Rita marriage is never fully explained; The Wailers barely get a look-in, save for a few magical studio ­sequences. A wasted opportunity.

Two stars