Channing Tatum’s 7 Most Underrated Movies

Channing Tatum has played the long game in Hollywood, and it has paid off big time. He could have come and gone back in 2006, when he appeared in the romantic dance film Step Up. Ask any girl who was eighteen at the time of that release; Channing Tatum was the apple of their eye. However, he didn’t rest on the idea of him being a heartthrob. He had great acting chops to back up those good looks. It’s shown over the years.

Looking back on Tatum’s career, it was an interesting journey to watch unfold. He caters to the persona that got him famous, all the while working with top-tier directors in memorable roles. He’s had such a run this last decade with the Magic Mike franchise, as well as films directed by the Coen Brothers, co-starring in films that picked up Oscar nominations, and that Gambit movie that never was, that we forget the superb films in between those big projects. If you have yet to watch the movies on this list, we recommend you seek them out, as they highlight Tatum’s presence and range as an actor.

7 The Son of No One (2011)

Channing Tatum plays rookie NYPD officer Jonathan White in The Son of No One, who has a past growing up in Queens that could have tarnished his chances of making it as a cop. However, his father’s former partner (Al Pacino) gets him off the hook. Jonathan is a cop in the area he grew up in, and his family soon starts receiving death threats from some people who know about his past.

Pacino and Tatum

Don’t let that Rotten Tomatoes score fool you. The Son of No One may not be perfect, but it hits some of the right beats of an engaging New York cop drama. Having Al Pacino and Ray Liotta backing it up with great performances helps too. Tatum’s mustache may be strange to stare at for fans of his movies who admire his heartthrob on-screen presence, but a film like this is meant to show you his versatility.

You believe his character arc, as he once was a kid from the neighborhood who killed a couple of drug addicts on the street, and you also buy the conflict he’s in with the surrounding characters. The Son of No One won’t top the list of cop dramas, but it still knows what it is and what it isn’t.

Watch the trailer for The Son of No One here.

Stream on Tubi

Related: Al Pacino 9 Oscar-Nominated Roles

6 10 Years (2012)

To put it simply, 10 Years is a film about a group of friends reuniting for their 10th high school reunion. The event of old friends coming together shows them what has changed and what still might remain the same after a decade has passed.

Chemistry is Key

With a cast that includes Channing Tatum, his then-wife Jenna Dewan, Justin Long, Oscar Isaac, Chris Pratt, Rosario Dawson, and many more, 10 Years hits all the sweet spots of friends coming back together post-high school. In terms of Channing Tatum in this film, his character is a happily married man, but he reconnects with his high school sweetheart, played by Rosario Dawson. It’s a run-of-the-mill plot point that gets played out really well by the two’s chemistry. You want them to fall back in love, but life steps in, of course.

Watch the trailer for 10 Years here.

Rent on Prime Video

5 White House Down (2013)

In White House Down, Tatum plays a divorced U.S. Capitol Police Officer named John Cale, who must rescue both his daughter (Joey King) and the President of the United States (Jamie Foxx) as an armed paramilitary group takes over the White House and threatens to have the country nosedive into utter chaos. Cale is now the last line of defense against the country falling into shambles.

Channing Tatum Is the Action Star We Wish We Had

Around the same time White House Down was released, a similar film starring Gerald Butler, Olympus Has Fallen, came out, which is also about a white house takeover. Whichever one you like more is your opinion. White House Down has Channing Tatum echoing a role like John McClain in the Die Hard franchise.

He’s a guy with a great set of butt-kicking skills, but he’s also highly relatable. Tatum had played action heroes before, but his career trajectory started to shift more and more as the 2010s went on. He’s great in roles like this, and his chemistry with Jamie Foxx is a great add-on to a turn-off-your-brain kind of movie.

Watch the trailer for White House Down here.

Stream on Max

4 The Lost City (2022)

The Lost City has Sandra Bullock as a novelist who is on a book tour with her cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum). The pair get swept up in a kidnapping attempt that puts them in danger as they land in the jungle, unsure of how they’ll make it out alive.

The Lost City Shot Up the Streaming Charts Recently

The Lost City is still going strong long past its run in theaters, nearly two years later. Just last year, it was killing it on the Netflix charts as the most streamed film on their service. The action-adventure film hit theaters in March 2022 and was a box office success. Some state that it is an underrated gem, loaded with fun chemistry between Bullock and Tatum, and not to be missed. Once again, Tatum plays to his comedy strengths; he is good-looking, but a bit of a dimwit, thus, in theory, making him a bit of a lovable loser.

Stream on Hulu

Related: Why The Lost City is the Perfect Nostalgia Movie

3 Stop-Loss (2008)

Inspired by the true element of a military contract but fictionalized for the film, Stop-Loss is a drama that follows Staff Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), who returns home after his tour of duty in Iraq and is done with service. However, a clause in his contract pulls him back into active duty, but he goes AWOL as he tries to sort out the dilemma of what to do.

Early Dramatic Role for Tatum

Although not the lead of the film, Tatum shows his range here in one of his earliest dramatic roles. He plays Steve Shriver, a Sergeant who gets lumped into Kings dilemma and tries to convince him to go knock out another tour. Stop-Loss was produced by MTV and came out in the thick of the war in Iraq. It has a lot to say about soldiers who were returning home, looking to leave their military life behind.

It has a sentimentality to it that shines through, maybe because the film is under the direction of Kimberley Pierce, director of films like Boys Don’t Cry. Tatum shows the poise and dramatic prowess we would see him bring to a dramatic role later on in his career.

Watch the trailer for Stop-Loss here.

Stream on Kanopy

2 The Eagle (2011)

The Eagle takes place in 120 A.D. in what was then Roman-ruled Britain. Channing Tatum plays Marcus Aquila, a man who leads a dangerous journey to Scotland as rumors of his family’s crest have been seen there. It’s the emblem of the eagle, worn by his father, who led 5000 men on a journey, and they are all believed to have perished.

Big Swings for Channing Tatum

The Eagle is a historical film adapted from the story The Eagle of the Ninth. The film plays it safe, released in February 2011, rather than trying to go big and try and be a summer blockbuster for later that year. This wasn’t the first time Channing Tatum was a leading man, but he is playing a bit against the grain in a rugged period piece. He kind of has an accent, kind of doesn’t, but he takes some big swings in it as he seems to thrive with this material.

If anything, The Eagle may teeter on being a forgettable sword-sandal adventure film, but Tatum wows you in a role some doubted him on out of the gate.

Watch the trailer for The Eagle here.

Stream on Prime Video

1 Logan Lucky (2017)

Logan Lucky stars Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Riley Keough as a trio of Virginia-living siblings who decide to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. The gang runs into complications with the race going on during their heist and the ability to evade the grasps of the F.B.I.

A Box Office Bomb Due to Lackluster Marketing

Logan Lucky probably could have been a hit if it hadn’t come out when it did, and it also had a discount marketing budget behind it, leaving many not even knowing it was in theaters. However, this is Channing Tatum working with director Steven Soderbergh again. The pair seem to have a shorthand with one another, as they have collaborated on many projects over the last decade.

Tatum and Adam Driver are prefect as bumbling country fellas who are trying to score big. Logan Lucky deserves a second round of being seen. It’s not an ideal film in either Tatum’s or Soderbergh’s filmography, but it’s loaded with eccentric, zany characters with a wide slate of great actors playing them.

Watch the trailer for Logan Lucky here.

Stream on Kanopy