'The Tax Collector' Trailer: Director David Ayer Returns To The Crime-Thriller Genre

David Ayer, director of Suicide Squad, Fury, and writer of Training Day, returns to the world of the crime thriller with The Tax Collector. This looks like Ayer treading familiar ground, and bringing his Fury actor Shia LaBeouf along for the ride. LaBeouf plays a "tax collector" in the criminal underworld, and he and his partner (Bobby Soto) are soon caught up in something dangerous.

David Ayer is at it again with The Tax Collector, another crime thriller/drama about people navigating a dangerous world. Ayer has been here before with films like Harsh Times, Street Kings, Sabotage, and of course, Training Day, a film he wrote but didn't direct. In The Tax Collector, "David (Bobby Soto) and Creeper (Shia LaBeouf), 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."

I can't say I'm a big fan of Ayer's – Training Day remains the best thing to bear his name, and he didn't even direct it – so I don't know if The Tax Collector will be for me. That said, I do think Shia LaBeouf can turn in a great performance with the right material (see: Honey Boy), so maybe he'll bring something interesting to the table. He certainly looks like he's having fun playing someone who is supposed to be very deadly and very scary. Also, his character is named Creeper, so there's that.

"He's one of the best actors I've worked with, and he's the most committed to body and soul," Ayer said of LaBeouf. "He had a tooth pulled on Fury, and then on Tax Collector, he got his whole chest tattooed. So he kind of goes all in, and I've never known anyone that committed."

In addition to Bobby Soto and Shia LaBeouf, The Tax Collector also stars Cinthya Carmona and George Lopez. Look for the film in theaters (maybe?) and on demand and digital on August 7, 2020.