Ray Gunn Review: Brad Bird’s Retrofuturistic Noir Looks Stunning, But Does It Play It Too Safe?

A rain-soaked city, a rumpled detective and a mystery that keeps twisting. Now add flying cars and aliens. That’s the pitch for Ray Gunn, the long-gestating passion project from Brad Bird, the director behind The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. An early review from What’s on Netflix suggests it’s a stylish treat, though not a perfect one.

Quick Facts

What Is It About?

The story takes place in Metropia, a retrofuturistic city where aliens are treated as second-class citizens. Raymond “Ray” Gunn, an ex-cop turned private eye voiced by Sam Rockwell, is one of the few humans who doesn’t discriminate. His habit of doing the right thing keeps him broke, and he can’t even pay his partner Eye-Ra Kadok, a one-eyed, three-legged alien voiced by Tom Waits.

His luck changes when he’s hired to watch Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson), a glamorous but volatile pop megastar. Soon he’s her bodyguard, and when people around her start turning up dead, Ray and Eye-Ra are pulled into a web of alien crime bosses, strange particle guns and a secret that could upend the whole city.

What Works?

The reviewer praises the film as a love letter to classic Hollywood noir, with characters and costumes echoing films like The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and Chinatown. Ray is described as a mash-up of every Humphrey Bogart role, and the mystery stays tight even on a second watch. Giacchino’s swinging score and the imaginative set pieces, such as Eye-Ra scaling buildings to snap photos, get special mention.

Visually, it’s called Skydance Animation’s best-looking film yet, with art deco architecture and moody lighting.

What Doesn’t?

The review isn’t all glowing. The reviewer wishes the film were fully 2D hand-drawn, as Bird once imagined, and notes that crowd scenes and background characters look less polished. The bigger complaint is that the screenplay plays it safe. Themes like prejudice against aliens, corporate greed and artist exploitation are touched on but never fully developed, making the film feel more family-friendly than the genre usually allows. The verdict: a worthy “first film noir” for kids, but a hint of what could have been.

Should You Watch It?

If you love noir, retro sci-fi or Brad Bird’s work, mark December 18. Families looking for a gateway into classic detective stories may enjoy it most. Viewers wanting a darker, edgier take might find it a bit tame.

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