14 Movie Stunts So Insane You Swore They Were CGI (But They Weren't)
We need to remind you that VFX departments consist not only of CGI specialists: some people work with props, with real explosives, with wires and safety nets and special easily breakable glass and some cool optical effects that help them deliver to you, the viewer, the coolest action you've ever seen in your life.
In these 14 stunts, no CGI was used: it was all practical.
Some directors want the most authenticity they can get and that's why they go for practical effects. Others believe that CGI just won't do justice to their idea.
There's also a category of directors who have been on the other side of the production and know how exactly to bring their vision to life using practical effects and not relying on computer graphics.
Lots of practical VFX need very meticulous preparation, they're still risky and require a lot of time to be executed properly, but the end result is so worth it.
The actors can react to whatever happens, they can properly act in a scene that actually exists and surrounds them, and the performance sells realism, no matter how insane and improbable the action itself looks. We're here for the entertainment, after all.
Here are all the films mentioned here: Independence Day (1996), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Cliffhanger (1993), Casino Royale (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Skyfall (2012), The Matrix ( 1999), Tenet (2020), Interstellar (2014), Spider-Man (2002), Inception (2010), Live Free or Die Hard (2007).