After making his name as the writer and director of gritty street-level crime thrillers, David Ayer made the jump into blockbuster territory and on paper at least, you’d have thought he did pretty well. Suicide Squad made nearly $750 million at the box office, while Netflix’s Bright became one of the streaming service’s most-watched titles ever after drawing in over eleven million viewers in the first three days after it was made available in December 2017.
However, things weren’t quite that simple. Suicide Squad was subjected to heavy studio interference that butchered Ayer’s original plans for the DCEU adventure and heavily compromised the finished product, while interest in Bright tailed off after just a few weeks to leave the planned sequel in limbo, with both movies failing to get much love from either critics or audiences.
Looking to recharge his batteries, the filmmaker returned to familiar territory with The Tax Collector, which saw star Shia LaBeouf continue to cement his reputation as perhaps the single most dedicated actor in the industry after getting his entire chest tattooed for his role as Creeper. Unfortunately, however, his latest effort didn’t mark a return to form and currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 17%, including a one-star review from us here at We Got This Covered.
That being said, The Tax Collector nonetheless managed to shoot to the top of the VOD charts to become last week’s most watched at home title, and the widely-panned pic has managed to hold onto the crown for a second consecutive week now.
For the full Top 10 list, see below:
1. The Tax Collector
2. Trolls World Tour
3. Yellowstone Season 1
4. Yellowstone Season 3
5. Yellowstone Season 2
6. Homefront
7. Made in Italy
8. The Outpost
9. The Rental
10. You Should Have Left
The Tax Collector hasn’t panned out as David Ayer would have liked despite yet another fiercely committed performance from his leading man, and after several missteps in a row, the 52 year-old’s next move could turn out to be the most pivotal of his entire career. For now, though, it seems that even despite the poor reviews, tons of viewers are still flocking to his latest effort.
