THE TAX COLLECTOR
1 out of 5 stars
Good luck finding anything remotely riveting about this typical tale of gang warfare going down in the streets of Los Angeles. Style is substituted for substance, and even that is wasted on hackneyed, colorless characters. Likewise, the pops of gruesome violence are to shock rather than to serve a purpose to writer-director David Ayer‘s shoddy story.
The Tax Collector is in desperate need of a hero because David (Bobby Soto) ain’t it. It only gets worse with Conejo (Jose Conejo Martin), the rival gang leader and “villain” of the movie. There’s lousy acting in parts and he’s in most of them. But what hurts the most is a high caliber actor like Shia LaBeouf getting absurdly underused. Since him and Ayer have worked together before in Fury, maybe this was a favor from LaBeouf. Either way, he’s reduced to a sidekick named Creeper who’s thrown straight to the wolves.
In the merciless profession Ayer exhibits, everyone gets what they deserve and it can’t come soon enough. Speaking of deserving, the audience deserves a hell of a lot more than what The Tax Collector is capable of handing over.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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