1976 Jamaica is on the brink of civil war between warring political factions. Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and his band The Wailers are caught in the middle of the resulting violent conflicts when a gunman attempts to assassinate him as the result of Marley’s involvement in a planned concert to help promote peace. As a result, he leaves his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) and travels to the UK, where he records his bestselling album Exodus. However, as Marley’s fame grows across Europe, Rita fears that his rising fame is corrupting him.

Ben-Adir practically embodies Marley, from his charismatic personality to his exact singing voice, and it’s always interesting to see the origins of classic hits such as ‘Exodus’ and ‘Redemption Song’. Such songs are recreated well, and Green also makes good use of a recurring motif of Marley’s father appearing before his younger self in a flaming field. This, along with another vision of Marley’s attempted assassin during an early concert, helps to provide brief moments of visual and stylistic variety. Lynch also provides a powerful supporting performance as Rita, particularly when she confronts Marley in Paris over his changed personality as a result of his European fame. The film also doesn’t shy away from the negative aspects of Marley’s life, such as the racism that he suffered during his time in the UK as well as his infidelity, even if such aspects are only touched upon briefly.

However, the scantness of this treatment only serves to highlight the somewhat sanitised nature of this family-approved biopic, which extends to its handling of the turbulent political situation in Jamaica during the 1970s. Despite its foregrounding early in the film, the political conflict that resulted in Marley fleeing the country is never explored in detail, with Marley’s connection to it through his planned concert and the attempted assassination feeling somewhat vague and underdeveloped.

Bob Marley: One Love will not disappoint ardent fans of the man and his music. However, the overall narrative is of a by-the-numbers biopic with little new to say about Bob Marley, hitting on the same old narrative and character beats seen in numerous other films of the genre.

In cinemas nationwide now