by Robbie Jones
Ask anyone who the hottest actors in Hollywood are, and one of them will always be Channing Tatum. Yes, Tatum is the man who’s got all the girls drooling, even more so this month with the release of hit stripper sequel Magic Mike XXL. Channing is back to strip off and shake what his mama gave him, but he’s actually got a pretty decent set of acting chops on him, so what better time to take a look at the essential Channing Tatum films?
Honourable mentions: She’s The Man, The Lego Movie, The Vow, Haywire and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (It’s not as bad as the first one) and I Wanna Channing All Over Your Tatum. Okay, so that isn’t a movie, but it’s essential none the less. It’s a really funny, catchy song with some genuinely brilliant writing. Seriously, if you don’t think “She likes to sing into my Mike because my Mike is Magic” is pure genius, we can’t be friends.
Ask anyone who the hottest actors in Hollywood are, and one of them will always be Channing Tatum. Yes, Tatum is the man who’s got all the girls drooling, even more so this month with the release of hit stripper sequel Magic Mike XXL. Channing is back to strip off and shake what his mama gave him, but he’s actually got a pretty decent set of acting chops on him, so what better time to take a look at the essential Channing Tatum films?
Honourable mentions: She’s The Man, The Lego Movie, The Vow, Haywire and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (It’s not as bad as the first one) and I Wanna Channing All Over Your Tatum. Okay, so that isn’t a movie, but it’s essential none the less. It’s a really funny, catchy song with some genuinely brilliant writing. Seriously, if you don’t think “She likes to sing into my Mike because my Mike is Magic” is pure genius, we can’t be friends.
White House Down
Kicking off our list is some ridiculous action fun, its Roland Emmerich’s White House Down. While on a tour of the white house with his politically enthused daughter, a Capitol policeman (Tatum) must step in to save the day when a group of terrorists invade, threatening the lives of the president (Jamie Foxx), his daughter and everyone else inside. So it’s not a fantastic movie; it’s cheesy as hell, it’s over the top, and some of the dialogue is entirely cringe worthy, but it’s so much fun. It’s actually quite well shot and choreographed, which makes for some really exciting action scenes, and Tatum and Foxx have good chemistry together. If you don’t like White House Down, just remember it could be a lot worse…You could be watching Olympus Has Fallen.
Side Effects
Steven Soderbergh is a phenomenal director, as he’s proved time and time again. Side Effects is his 2013 thriller that stars Jude Law as a psychiatrist who founds his world crumbling around him when a patient (Rooney Mara) kills her husband (Tatum) after taking drugs he prescribed. Side Effects is a dark, tantalising thriller that constantly keeps you on edge and is full of excellent performances, most notably Law and Mara. Soderbergh knocks it out of the park yet again, though the film just doesn’t get as much love as it should.
Foxcatcher
The most recent film on this list is the Oscar contender that gave us Channing finest performance yet. Based on a true story, Tatum plays Mark Schulz, an Olympic wrestler who is invited to train with entrepreneur John Du Pont (Steve Carell) for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Jumping at the chance to step out of the shadow of his revered brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), Mark sees Du Pont as a father figure, and in turn, Du Pont uses his team to vie for the approval of his mother. Foxcatcher has its flaws; it’s a tad slow, and it’s emotional core feels a bit dry, but otherwise it’s a very impressive film. The camera work, editing and sound are all on point, and the performances are out of this world. Ruffalo and Carell picked up Oscar nominations though Channing was left in the dust, despite being possibly the best performance in the film, and certainly the most understated
Magic Mike
Back to the beginning, it’s the first Magic Mike, directed once again by Steven Soderbergh. We have a full review you can check out, but to summarise, Magic Mike is an excellent film that was horribly misadvertised as some fun, sexy romp, which in some cases it is, but it is a lot darker than people expect going into it, and it’s story and characters are fleshed out far beyond what you’d expect from a film about male strippers. The choreography is superb, and makes the dancing in the film deliriously enjoyable, and there’s excellent performances from Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and, surprisingly, Alex Pettyfer. Magic Mike is a great movie, and hopefully its sequel will be just as good.
21/22 Jump Street
Finally, it’s time for the movies that convinced everyone that he might not be so bad. Having only starred in dance films and romances, Tatum showed off his comedic chops in 2012’s 21 Jump Street, the reboot of the classic 80s series starring him and Jonah Hill as two cops who go undercover in a high school to find the supplier of a lethal drug. The film is comedy gold; it’s fast paced and always keeps the humour on point, creating a gut busting experience. Tatum and Hill are made for each other; they inject the life into the film, and work so well that you could really believe they’re best friends. 22 Jump Street, whilst not as good, is also hilarious, if not a bit tiresome in places. Tatum has proved to everyone just how funny he is, and hopefully he’ll take more comedic roles in the future. And no, Jupiter Ascending doesn’t count...(Ed: It bloody well does)
What Do you Think?
Those are our picks for the essential Channing Tatum films,
what are your favourites?
Let us know in the comments!
Magic Mike XXL is out now. Read our review now!
RSS Feed
