The Tax Collector Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs
Another disappointing effort from David Ayer.
With the current state of cinemas being what they are worldwide, many distributors are opting to release their lower-budget projects on VOD platforms rather than hold out for a theatrical drop.
One such movie is The Tax Collector, the new kitchen sink crime thriller from David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury, Suicide Squad), which stars Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Soto as a pair of gangsters tasked with collecting "protection" money from various Los Angeles street gangs on the order of their kingpin boss.
It's a prime example of a movie which probably would've tanked in cinemas regardless of present circumstances, because despite the presence of an ever-committed LaBeouf, this is one of the year's most beige and forgettable genre films.
Despite the hope that a return to lower-budget crime fare might rouse Ayer out of his recent creative funk, this haphazardly thrown together, laughably formulaic film won't garner much interest beyond crime thriller obsessives and Shia LaBeouf completionists.
Though far from the worst film of the year as some critics have claimed, it is nevertheless a modest disappointment considering the obvious potential. Here's what Ayer got wrong...