Film Review: "The Tax Collector" (2020).

"From the creator of Training Day and End of Watch" comes The Tax Collector. This action crime thriller film written and directed by David Ayer. David and Creeper, are "tax collectors" for the crime lord Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs’ illicit dealings. But when Wizard’s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.

In late June 2018, it was announced that Ayer and Shia LaBeouf would collaborate again for a film entitled The Tax Collector. By mid July, George Lopez, Lana Parrilla, Elpidia Carrillo, Jimmy Smits and Bobby Soto rounded out the film's cast. In preparation for the role of Creeper, LaBeouf had his entire chest tattooed. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in mid August. Filming took place throughout Los Angeles, California.

The film stars LaBeouf, Lopez, Parrilla, Carrillo, Smits and Soto. As a character study it lacks characterization, and it's too predictable to be an effective cautionary tale. It's true that we don't need to like characters for a movie to work. We should, however, at least find them interesting. Creeper is such a psycho and David is such a patsy, we don't care about these guys. We've seen dozens of more interesting head cases in dozens of smarter films. It's an amazing performance, one of the best of the year, with LaBeouf truly making you believe in this over-the-top character. The reason to see the movie is LaBeouf who can play slow-burning psychosis about as well as any actor today and is outstanding again. Though LaBeouf has the presence of a young Pacino, and the same volatile edge, he's being asked here to fill out a role that doesn't ring true on any level.

A crazy little film, modest in its scope but grand in its ambition. It paints it's story in loud primary colors, with intense pressure cooker characterizations. It is a portrait of a male-dominated world and in LaBeouf's fierce performance, Ayer has found the perfect actor. It's just unfortunate that the screenplay feels like a left-over from an era that has passed. If more action propelled this water-treading plot, Ayer might have produced the mean streets classic that the film aspires to be. The movie's amusing moments are counterbalanced by a dark and dreary finale that effectively crushes the film's mood. Endless scenes of the two guys torturing people, venting and cursing and chugging beers play like acting-class exercises, badly written ones at that. Ayer goes back to his roots with this film, which is so relentlessly grim that it occasionally goes over the top and invites derision. It's the rare movie in which audience members will reverently wish for the main character's death from the very beginning. In the end, the film feels overwrought - Ayer holds too many guns to too many heads, and you can only keep viewers in that kind of suspense for so long.

Simon says The Tax Collector receives:

Also, see my review for Bright.