The Tax Collector Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

Downs...

6. It's An Insanely Generic Crime Thriller

Though Ayer's better gangster thrillers such as Training Day, Harsh Times, and End of Watch have all brought memorable characters and a unique tone to the table, The Tax Collector basically reeks of a filmmaker trying to impersonate his prior glories.

It ultimately comes down to the script, as it usually does, which over-indulges in a clumsy avalanche of genre cliches, ensuring there's virtually nothing here you haven't seen in superior crime flicks.

The bodies start piling up as the gangs turn on each other, igniting a power vacuum, quests for revenge, betrayals, and so on.

Every storytelling detour is the most obvious one - especially in the exhaustingly predictable third act - ensuring that the end result too often feels a bit like a parody of itself.