REVIEW: BOB MARLEY - ONE LOVE

4/5

Let's Get Together.

107 Mins. Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch & James Norton. Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green. In: Theatres.

He is legend. But let Will Smith tell it in 'I Am Legend'. "(Bob Marley) had this idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate… literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later, he walked out on that stage and sang (and just watch him show his scars here). When they asked him why - He said, ‘The people who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.’" And there you have it. Bob Marley. A music icon, singing for peace and reaching words and worlds even Bob Dylan hadn't. You know, I feel frustrated when scenes from a trailer don't make it past the cutting room floor of a movie. And in the teaser for Reinaldo Marcus Green's ('King Richard', the movie that now lives in infamy for getting Will Smith an Oscar...and so much more) 'Bob Marley: One Love' (executive produced by Ziggy, Rita and Cedella Marley, amongst others) we see a journalist ask Kingsley Ben-Adir's king, beautiful and amazing Marley, "Bob, they tried to kill you and your wife. And now you're choosing to return to Jamaica to play a peace concert? Don't you fear for your life?" And Bob just looks at him. This is his message to you as he rides around his country like Will's 'Ali' in Africa.

"Do you really think this world will make it?" "Yes!" Even though the look that could say a thousand words and sing a million more songs doesn't make the final cut, it still sears and stares right through you. Just like Bob Marley's message. Everlasting with no exodus like three little birds outside your window. Rocking a dog called Samantha to sleep like Smith, or tickling your kids in the car's back seat with reassurance like a Marley. One love. One heart. One destiny. In RMG's 'One Love', KBA is the closest thing to the King. Someone you thought was unplayable and not portrayable, like when the law of 'Ripley's' charismatic star Johnny Flynn made a game attempt at Bowie for Ziggy's 'Stardust'. Yet Kingsley-Adir captures every nuance, every note of grace in a complicated man (the cheating has been safely sanitized like MLK's in 'Selma', but then again, they are reference, and this is not really what these movies are all about) with a simple message...peace! The man who perfectly played Malcolm X in the stage show adapted 'One Night In Miami...' portrays another monumental man with a message that transcended race and the borders of the walls put up by politicians, or those who want to leave others in the dirt, all just because of where they came from. The 'Barbie' Ken and Marvel 'Secret Invasion' villain, who cut his teeth on 'Peaky Blinders' and ITV's 'Vera', gives us the role of his life, that's so out of the box and a caped hero property, that like X, it's what he'll always be known, celebrated and remembered for. Accented and with a raised fist of pride for his people as sometimes he sings along with Bob in terrific takes.

Between back and forth's with writers fixing for a scoop, or at least some face-time, and studio sessions that show the work behind the wonder and the compelling craft of songwriting. Not to mention extremely epic performances, loud and close. This beautiful biopic is the closest thing to a Queen crowning and Mercury rising 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on those big three levels. With this picture of a prophet like Tupac Shakur's 'All Eyez On Me', hitting the epic, emotional, jet-soaring heights of a National Anthem at the Super Bowl by Whitney Houston in 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody'. But if he doesn't deserve an Academy Award for this like Rami Malek, then at least give him a nomination for the love of the ninth-highest-grossing movie of the year so far. With stellar support too, from 'Grantchester' and 'Happy Valley's' James Nolan, continuing the ITV connection, as Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, amongst others. Yet with no time to die, and a dread lock saving her life, it's Lashana Lynch that stands proud as Rita Marley, the one, true love of Bob. The 007 star who proved she could play Bond, and be another Marvel hero beyond its captain, is on an era like no other. And here she is the spiritual core and the grounding centre, as muse's serenity. 'The Woman King' indeed. Marley and she, there's no better partnership. And like the end, that flows more like a river, than stops in its tracks like a life cut short, proves one thing. Like love, the legend of Bob lives on. Something spiritual, bordering on the biblical. Exodus. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'All Eyez On Me', 'Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody'.