The Tax Collector

Two tough guys collecting taxes for a powerful gangster in Los Angeles find themselves in the middle of a war over who gets to run the streets. And while it looks interesting enough at first, The Tax Collector quickly turns into an almost annoying film that lacks a single positive character, dully glorifies violence, and turns into a parody in its attempt to be as macho as possible. Ayer couldn't pull this off. (11.08.2020)

I like Ayer's work, but everyone cuts corners sometimes and The Tax Collector looked appealing at first glance, but in the end it's just an ordinary film from a rough setting that unfortunately looks like straight to VOD, not to theaters. You wait about fifty minutes for the first action scene and it fails to impress. Towards the end, the film does get quite rough and a couple of the scenes are worth it, but it's weak compared to similarly-themed films. I’m giving it three stars because I have a soft spot for the Mexican setting. Story**, Action***, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment***, Music***, Visuals***, Atmosphere***, Suspense***. 5/10. (09.08.2020)

We waited so long for the new Ayer movie, but all for nothing. This trivial story of a kind gangster who gets into problems is often unintentionally funny. Talking about honor and the family doesn’t mix well with threats and torture. In terms of acting, it’s a disaster and is reminiscent of a Mexican telenovella. The only one with any role to play is Shia, but even here it would have been easier to take him seriously if he had started out cutting off a few fingers and kneecapping somebody. The director can’t get the flashbacks to work, instead just confusing things for the viewer. Did he edit out the torture scenes? Did he go soft? This time, it’s just bad, homey. (13.08.2020)