The Tax Collector Review

When you see the name “David Ayer” flash up on the screen, you know you’re in for a long, hellish slog of an experience. The Tax Collector, his latest film after Bright 2 was thankfully plunged into purgatory, sees him develop a rather primitive and underwhelming action flick. What more could we expect from the man whose previous efforts were the underwhelming action superhero flick Suicide Squad and Bright, a film that wears a flimsy message on its sleeve for the better part of two hours. Still, he’s allowed to make movies, which in turn means I am indeed obliged to watch them in my never-ending mission to have some semblance of relevance in an industry dominated by better one-liners than I could ever dream of writing. Still, I can write a lot better than the knucklehead who put The Tax Collector together.

Artificial tension between a group of characters who fall once more into the generic pile of needy or mundane lifestyles, we love to see it. We being modern action film fans, I suppose. With the likes of Shia LaBeouf and George Lopez, The Tax Collector seems to have attracted a washed-up crowd, those in need of a quick bit of work. With LaBeouf’s return to acting already ending its promising, brief start, his role as Creeper is laughably poor. It’s not quite his fault though, considering how awful the writing for this film is. Languished prose that falls prey to the stereotypes of the genre, but without the heart or wry dedication necessary to invent themselves as anything interesting. It can’t even copy out any moments that would make it remotely interesting.

The Tax Collector reminded me somewhat of those old Army of Two games, but for all the wrong reasons. Aside from calligraphy and premise, the comparisons begin to wear thin once this sleek, uneventful trash gets the ball rolling. What little action there is throughout is undeniably weak, mired by the lengthy storytelling that comes before it, the inarticulate remainder of the film tries to piece something together out of the wreckage, but comes up unsurprisingly short.

Another soundtrack littered with ineffectual, cheap rap and pop; it seems to be a trend of the modern action drama piece. At least Ayer’s direction doesn’t spiral as rapidly as it does in Bright, oddly enough The Tax Collector is the best work I’ve seen by him so far, and it’s still wholly dreadful and one of the worst films of this year. A completely valueless and immediately forgettable film, even from a perspective of laughing at awful products, it’s not worth the time or energy needed to view it. Completely redundant from the moment it comes on screen, it’s a tour of everything wrong with the action genre.