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The Tax Collector starts with something particularly gross, not from what you might normally expect in a film where firearms are going to play a part, but when David Cuevas (Bobby Soto) wakes up, his daughter complains of a loose baby tooth, and he yanks it out without warning. Ewwwww!!!
His partner in crime/work is Creeper (Shia LaBeouf – Honey Boy, The Peanut Butter Falcon), and together, they ‘collect taxes’ for crime lord The Wizard (Jimmy Smits). It’s dangerous work, but they receive 30% from each take, and that take can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars; and despite Creeper’s hthreatening demeanour, he gets his kicks from a keto diet, dropping excess weight, while the rest of us let it sit there.
Along the way, they come across issues with another ‘tax collector’ called Conejo (portrayed by Jose Conejo Martin, who reduces this to simply, ‘Conejo’), and he’s intending to muscle in on their business and take all the cash for his own means. Can our anti-heroes override him?
What’s most bizarre about The Tax Collector is that Shia LaBeouf had his entire chest tattooed for this film in exactly the way that you see. There’s method acting and there’s method acting, and this is quite ridiculous, especially since you’ve now got to hide your tattoos for every other film that you make, and that it’s so easy to use that thing called… y’know, the make-up department.
but… it’d be worth it 😀
The Tax Collector has been given a load of negative reviews, only because too many reviewers are still awaiting their supply of E45 cream to deal with their butthurt when they bitched about writer/director David Ayer‘s 2016 DC movie, Suicide Squad because they were complete morons. It was a great film!
They’re also moaning about the fact that while Shia was born in Los Angeles, here, he’s speaking with what’s been dubbed a ‘cholo’ accent, and has been compared to ‘brownface’, but I didn’t get that latter bit at all. And when Lenny Henry tried to white-face himself in his 1991 comedy True Identity, I didn’t see anyone moaning about that at the time… just about how unfunny this ‘comedy’ was.
Personally, I’d only moan about the fact that it’s daft how some conversations mix between English and Spanish, even in the middle of the sentence from one person talking.
Overall, The Tax Collector does rather meander a bit a times, yet it’s not TOO baggy with its brief 95-minute running time. However, while it has great performances from all concerned, plus some superb fight scenes and shootouts, it did have a rather unsatisfactory ending that left me a bit confused, for reasons you’ll see when you watch it.
The Tax Collector is released in US cinemas now, but hasn’t yet got a UK date. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 95 minutes
Release date: August 7th 2020 (US only. UK date TBA)
Studio: RLJE Films
Format: 1.85:1
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: David Ayer
Producers: Matt Antoun, David Ayer, Chris Long, Tyler Thompson
Screenplay: David Ayer
Music: Michael Yezerski
Cast:
Creeper: Shia LaBeouf
David: Bobby Soto
Alexis: Cinthya Carmona
Conejo: Jose Conejo Martin (as Conejo)
Gata: Cheyenne Rae Hernandez
Bone: Cle Sloan
Sensei Richard: Richard Mesquita
Uncle Louis: George Lopez
Venom: Brian Martin Ortega
Casey: Aaliyah Samara Lopez
Wizard: Jimmy Smits
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.