“The Tax Collector” was written, produced & directed by David Ayer, who is known for his hard hitting cop dramas such as “End of Watch”, “Street Kings”, “Sabotage”, “Bright” “Harsh Times”. He has also directed “Suicide Squad” & the award winning film, “Fury”. His writing includes films like “Training Day”, “Dark Blue”, “SWAT” & “The Fast & The Furious”. The film stars Bobby Soto, Shia LaBeouf, George Lopez & Cinthya Carmona.

In the heart of Los Angeles, a “tax collector” named David (Soto) works for a prominent gang as both a collector and enforcer. His longtime friend & partner, Creeper (LaBeouf) joins him as they make their daily runs. After saving a rival gang from another, David & Creeper are visited by a mysterious man by the name of Conejo who claims to be the one to bring all the gangs of L.A. including David’s. David’s uncle, Louise (Lopez) serves as the leader while the actual leader, Wizard, is serving time. When Louise tries to smooth things over, Conejo makes matter worse by killing him. All hell breaks loose as Conejo moves in on the rest of David’s crew and also his wife & children. David must now put aside his family man persona & take this deadly & violent fight to Conejo if he is to survive.

This movie has all the trimmings of a typical David Ayer crime drama but no standout performances. This was terrible movie that had nothing to offer. Outside of Shia LaBeouf & George Lopez, you name anyone in this movie which really bothered me. None of these actors gave even a mediocre performance. LaBeouf is entertaining but he’s barely in the movie despite being in the entire trailer and George Lopez has even less screen time. The action is dark and gritty but with a cast of no names, the movie is very hard to follow or engaging. You can’t really get behind any one character.

Overall, this was another movie that had the hype machine behind it and failed horribly. The bright spot of hype was Shia LaBeouf’s transformation & character but then you watch the movie and he’s barely in it & doesn’t really do anything. Nothing about this movie is good or even mediocre. I would watch “Suicide Squad” over this, and that is saying something.