Bob Marley: One Love appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a terrific presentation.
Sharpness remained strong at all times. Nary a sliver of softness ever impacted this tight image.
Neither jaggies nor shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws remained absent.
Though we occasional got some blues and reds, warm orange/amber tones heavily dominated the film. The hues looked full and rich within those choices.
Blacks felt deep and dense, while shadows appeared smooth and concise. I felt totally pleased with the film’s visuals.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack also fared well. Unsurprisingly, music became the dominant element, as Marley’s songs blossomed to all the channels in a pleasing and active manner.
Otherwise, the track leaned toward general environmental material, and those showed a nice sense of place. The occasional violent scene also added punch to the proceedings.
Audio quality excelled, especially via the music. Score and songs offered terrific range and clarity.
Speech always seemed natural and concise, even if some viewers may want to activate subtitles to decode the Jamaican patois that dominates dialogue. Effects appeared accurate and full. This turned into a highly satisfying mix for a music-based biopic.
We get five featurettes, and Becoming Bob Marley spans seven minutes, 28 seconds. We find notes from producers/children Cedella and Ziggy Marley, director/co-writer Reinaldo Marcus Green, costume designer Anna B. Sheppard, producer Robert Teitel, dialect coach Fae Ellington, and actors Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch.
The show covers Ben-Adir’s performance and physical transformation to play Marley. We find a mix of insights and praise.
The Story goes for seven minutes, 25 seconds. It offers info from Ziggy Marley, Cedella Marley, Green, Ben-Adir, and producer Jeremy Kleiner.
As implied by the title, the featurette discusses the era chosen for the film’s narrative. We don’t get a lot of substance here.
Next comes The Cast. During this nine-minute, 49-second reel, we hear from Green, Ziggy Marley, Ben-Adir, Lynch, Kleiner, and actors James Norton, Ouan-Dajai Henriques, and Nia Ashi.
Unsurprisingly, this one looks at actors, characters and performances. Unsurprisingly, we mostly get happy talk that tells us about the greatness of those involved.
On Location fills eight minutes, 27 seconds. It delivers remarks from Green, Ben-Adir, Lynch, Ziggy Marley, Kleiner, Teitel, Ellington, historical advisor/Bob Marley and the Wailers art director, production designer Chris Lowe, and director of photography Robert Elswit.
Another self-explanatory title, “Location” illustrates the places used for the shoot. Expect another mix of decent facts and superficial blather.
Finally, The Band occupies nine minutes, 50 seconds. Here we locate statements from Green, Ben-Adir, Ziggy Marley, Lynch, actors Anna-Share Blake and Naomi Cowan, and musicians Junior Marvin, Aston Barrett Jr., David Kerr, and Hector Roots Lewis.
This one covers the musicians used in the film. Despite some of the usual happy talk, we get a fairly good view of these performers.
Seven Deleted Scenes and one Extended Scene fill a total of 10 minutes, 23 seconds. Some of these add to our view of young Bob and Rita.
We also get a little more exposition connected to Bob in Europe, including a brief chat with “Mick Jagger”, whereas we simply briefly glimpse Mick in the final cut. Nothing here seems crucial, but a few interesting tidbits emerge.
Because it concentrated on fairly brief period of time in its subject’s life, I hoped Bob Marley: One Love would offer a rich experience. Unfortunately, the end result seems sketchy and superficial. The Blu-ray boasts excellent visuals as well as very good audio and a mediocre set of supplements. While not a terrible biopic, One Love fails to connect in a meaningful manner.