‘Ray Gunn’ movie review: A swanky retro-futurist noir with an anti-corporate axe to grind
Brad Bird’s animated film Ray Gunn uses a hard-boiled detective story to explore the pressures on art from corporate control and artificial intelligence. Set in a vast future city shared by humans and aliens, it follows private investigator Raymond Gunn as a routine spying job involving pop star Venus Nova uncovers a secret that threatens her career.
Sam Rockwell voices Gunn, with Tom Waits as his alien partner Eye-ra Kadok; the cast also includes Scarlett Johansson, Bobby Cannavale, Matt Berry, Alan Tudyk and Michelle Rodriguez. The review praises the film’s detailed retro-futurist animation and familiar noir setting, while noting its broad satire of corporate management, AI doubles and the commercial use of diversity.
In short
- Brad Bird blends classic detective noir with futuristic animation.
- A spying job involving pop star Venus Nova reveals a career-threatening secret.
- The film takes aim at corporate control, AI doubles and commercialised art.
Explained simply
Film noir is a crime-story style associated with detectives, shadowy cities and morally complicated cases. Brad Bird’s animated film sets that kind of story in a future metropolis where humans and aliens live side by side, and follows private investigator Raymond Gunn.
Gunn’s work brings him into the orbit of Venus Nova, a pop star whose image and career are closely managed. The story uses their case to explore how companies can shape creative work, including through artificial intelligence and the marketing of identity.
The film’s themes connect to wider questions about who controls art and how new technology changes entertainment. Its voice cast includes Sam Rockwell as Gunn, Tom Waits as his alien partner Eye-ra Kadok, and Scarlett Johansson as Venus Nova.