Johnny Patalano

This was a beautiful movie about the human spirit and what we can accomplish when we commit ourselves to goodness. My biggest takeaway was that there is power in forgiveness, not so much for the forgiver like we might think, but for the one who is being forgiven, as Bob Marley reminded us that only we can redeem ourselves. Culturally, I can't relate to many of the characters. I'm not Jamaican. I can't speak to the authenticity of the accents or the characterizations. There are plenty of reviews on here addressing that. But if you're a human being, I think you'll be deeply moved by the struggles, triumphs, slip-ups, and redemptions in this movie. As most reviews have focused on Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley (he was awesome!) I want to heap some praise on Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley. She's a powerful actress who can tell a full story with her eyes. With subtle changes in expression and body language, you could tell when she was annoyed with Bob, angry at him, scared for him, and disappointed in him. But through it all you can tell she cared deeply for him. I thought the film did a very nice job of making this Bob Marley's story but showing us how Rita was a foundation and maybe even the nucleus for their family. It's disappointing to see such negative reviews on here simply because she's an English actor and to suggest that this was only a money-grab on the part of Rita Marley. It's the sort of divisiveness that I think Bob Marley wouldn't want. That's my opinion, and I can't know what would be in Bob Marley's heart, just like some of these reviews can't possibly know what's in Rita Marley's heart. I can't find a thing wrong with the movie. I thought all of the performances were solid. The flashbacks are perfectly followable if you have any sort of attention span. No Hollywood biopic is 100% accurate. Not Ray, not Elvis, not 42, not 61, not the Iron Claw, so please don't go into this movie expecting everything as it happened and in the exact order. See it for the performances, see it because the message is something many of us could use in our lives right now, and see it to be reminded of what's possible when human beings insist on peace.

Have you ever been in a community play and suddenly had delusions of a Hollywood career? Well, good news! The acting in this movie should give you hope that absolutely anyone has a chance to be a movie actor! There isn't one believable line in this 98-minute mess. Al Pacino, whose work I've always enjoyed, is a parody of himself as he combines a little Lt. Col. Frank Slade and Carlito Brigante to give us an accent that makes him incapable of discussing lab reports. Instead, he discusses laaaaaab re-potes! The cliches are bountiful, both in performances but especially in dialogue. The detectives don't talk about victims and perpetrators. Instead they talk about vics and perps. "This is getting too dangerous for you," and, "I'm taking you off this case," are just some of the lines you've heard in a dozen other movies and that you'll hear in this one. Everyone in this movie behaves nervously except Al Pacino and Karl Urban who are so used to the gruesome job of being detectives that they can't help but act cool and annoyed despite constantly being surrounded by buckets of blood and dead bodies. I understand at some point it's just a job for these guys, but then why do the coroners and doctors and other police officers stumble over their words when relaying information for a job they likely have been doing for a long time? If you love Al Pacino, don't watch this movie. You will have a difficult time forgiving him.