The Tax Collector Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

4. David Ayer's Sloppy Direction

Following back-to-back duds Suicide Squad and Bright, there was much hope that this smaller-scale project would be a welcome return to form for writer-director David Ayer.

Sadly, it instead marks a third consecutive dud for the filmmaker, and most disappointingly, it actually feels incredibly slapdash from a directorial standpoint.

Counter to the technical finesse of his earlier movies like End of Watch and Fury, most of the shot selections here feel uncreative and unfussed, simply settling for the most basic camera set-ups possible.

Even the action sequences lack the flare of Ayer's prior films, with every single visual choice being either completely obvious or hilariously trite - a third act shootout is depicted in speed-ramped slow-mo which began to feel hackneyed at least a decade ago.

And though Ayer is certainly an actor's director, in this case his script is so utterly piecemeal that there's not much room for him to guide them.