The Tax Collector Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

3. The Thin Characterisation

From top to bottom, every single character in this movie is a stock, cardboard cutout and little else. Even central characters David and Creeper (LaBeouf) don't give audiences much to cling to, such that viewers may struggle to care about the mortal danger they're soon enough placed in.

The peripheral characters mostly feel like props, especially the film's women who, while plentiful, are largely reduced to eye candy without much of an idea for who they are as people.

Because the character work is so wafer-thin across the board, it's tough to care much when Ayer misguidedly attempts to get sentimental in act three as bodies start hitting the chopping block.

Though skilled filmmakers can elevate familiar material with strong character development, in this case the humans at the core are hollow archetypes rather than flesh-and-blood beings.