Bob Marley: One Love (4K Limited Edition SteelBook Review)

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Bob Marley: One Love is a biopic produced by Ziggy Marley about the legendary Jamaican reggae songwriter, singer, and musician Bob Marley, who helped to spread the musical genre around the globe. A bi-racial boy who did not know his white father born into poverty and growing up in the slums, Marley (played as an adult by Kingsley Ben-Adir, Barbie) would take on political challenges in Jamaica, face down an assassination attempt by gangs, and eventually, with the help of his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) and fellow bandmates, while in a self-imposed exile in England, help spread his music around the world.

While this film, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, is ostensibly a biopic and does use some flashbacks to show us some pivotal points in Marley’s childhood and teen years, this is more a film about how his breakout album Exodus and its subsequent world tour came to fruition. The album, which includes such enduring hits as the title track, “One Love/People Get Ready,” “Three Little Birds,” and “Jamming” remains a standout from the Bob Marley catalogue.

Biopics are a strange beast when it comes to films, one can easily lionize a subject, and Bob Marley: One Love comes dangerously close. The story does delve into his issues with cheating on his wife – slightly – and glazes over the conflicts with earlier bandmates like Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer that caused them to leave, but it also lays at his feet the sole reason for ending of political violence in Jamaica. It may be a fantasy of the life of Bob Marley, but it is one made more enjoyable by the music.

Purchase Bob Marley: One Love SteelBook [4K UHD] on Amazon.com

The Video

Bob Marley: One Love was shot on the Arri Alexa 35 with Panavision Primo, VA and Angenieux Optimo lenses in ARRIRAW 4.6K and uses a 4K DI. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc comes with a 2.39:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement with a MaxLL of 2743 nits and MaxFALL of 289 nits. This is a beautiful transfer with nothing much to criticize. The Dolby Vision grading results in a vibrant colorful palette that really captures the warm, sunny environment of the Caribbean. When the film shifts to London, the image still ‘pops’ in the more reserved color palette, with the traffic lights, the cherry red double-decker buses and inky streets. The detail is immaculate, with the finest, crispest minutiae being visible, from the stray hairs on Kingsley Ben-Adir’s dreads to the stitching on clothing.

The Audio

The Dolby Atmos mix shines for Bob Marley: One Love. It is not an aggressive one, but it presents the reggae songs of Bob Marley and the Wailers in a wonderfully dynamic and engulfing space, with just a bit of height to the instrumentation, and big, fat, warm bass. The rest of the time, dialogue is presented in full, natural sound and the speakers often fill with a balance of atmospheric sounds.

The Supplements

Bob Marley: One Love is housed in a beautifully designed SteelBook (there is a standard version as well) and comes with a few featurettes with interviews with the cast and crew as well as deleted and extended scenes. The also gorgeously transferred Blu-ray is included alongside a digital copy code.

Bonus Features:

• Digital Code
• Becoming Bob Marley (1080p; 00:07:28)
• The Story: Bringing Bob Marley’s Story to Life (1080p; 00:07:25)
• The Cast (1080p; 00:09:49)
• On Location: Jamaica and England (1080p; 00:08:27)
• The Band (1080p; 00:09:50)
• Extended and Deleted Scenes (1080p; 00:10:23)

The Final Assessment

A reasonably enjoyable if not wholly accurate nor revelatory biopic about the life of Bob Marley or the making of his groundbreaking album Exodus. That said, the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc is reference quality in every way.

Bob Marley: One Love is out on Limited Edition 4K SteelBook May 28, 2024, from Paramount Home Entertainment

Purchase Bob Marley: One Love SteelBook [4K UHD] on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: PG-13 (for marijuana use and smoking throughout, some violence and brief strong language.)
• Studios & Distributors: Paramount Pictures | Plan B Entertainment | Tuff Gong Pictures | Paramount Home Entertainment
• Written By: Terence Winter | Frank E. Flowers | Zach Baylin
• Run Time: 107 Mins.
• Street Date: 28 May 2024
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 2743 nits
  • MaxFALL: 289 nits
  • Max. Luminance: 4000 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0050 nits
• Primary Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible)
• Secondary Audio: English Audio Description | German Dolby Atmos | Spanish (Castilian) DD 5.1 | Spanish (Latino) DD 5.1 | French (Canadian) DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English | English SDH | Danish | German | Spanish (Castilian) | Spanish (Latino) | French (Canadian) | Norwegian | Finnish | Swedish | Turkish