One Love doesn’t do justice to its reggae reggae source.

There’s a temptation with biopics of towering cultural figures to try to distil the essence of their greatness into an easily digestible narrative, to offer audiences the neatly packaged highlights of their lives while glossing over the thornier aspects. In Bob Marley: One Love, this approach becomes both its greatest strength and its most glaring weakness. While the film dutifully tracks the life and times of the reggae legend, it’s hard not to feel like the man behind the music has been filtered and flattened into a formulaic rise-and-fall arc.

Kingsley Ben-Adir, however, is undeniably magnetic in the lead role. His performance transcends the screenplay’s limitations, embodying Marley’s charisma, vulnerability, and conviction. From the fiery passion of his performances to the quiet intensity in moments of personal doubt, Ben-Adir brings Marley to life in a way that the rest of the movie can’t quite match. His work is a highlight, supported by Lashana Lynch and a cast who manage to make the material shine brighter than it has any right to.

The problem is that One Love never feels like it gets under Marley’s skin. It hits the expected beats—his rise to stardom, the challenges of his activism, and the impact of his music—but the film’s structure is oddly disjointed. Key moments are rushed, while others linger too long without offering deeper insights. It’s as if the filmmakers couldn’t decide whether they were crafting a tribute concert or a warts-and-all portrait, resulting in a film that feels both generic and scattershot.

Then there’s the lingering sense of sanitisation. With Marley’s family involved as producers, the film often feels more reverent than revelatory. It’s clear they’re keen to celebrate his legacy, but in doing so, they shy away from anything that might complicate the image of Marley as a beloved global icon. His political convictions, personal flaws, and the contradictions that made him such a fascinating figure are largely smoothed over. The result is a portrait that feels safe—respectful, yes, but lacking in the raw energy and truth that defined his music.

For fans of Marley, the film offers moments that will resonate, particularly the electrifying recreations of his live performances. The soundtrack is, unsurprisingly, excellent, and there are sequences where the music and Ben-Adir’s portrayal almost make you forget the film’s broader shortcomings. But for anyone looking for a deeper exploration of Marley’s life and impact, One Love might feel more like a shallow introduction than a definitive biography.

In the end, Bob Marley: One Love is a competent but uninspired take on a man whose life was anything but. While Kingsley Ben-Adir’s extraordinary performance ensures the film has moments of brilliance, it can’t quite overcome the weight of its compromises. Fans of Marley or biopics may still find themselves tapping along, but for a figure whose music spoke such bold truths, this feels disappointingly muted.