10 Amazing Practical Movie Effects Shots Everybody Assumed Were CGI

10. The "No Mirror" Effect - Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation marked the point at which director Christopher McQuarrie took the reins of the franchise and shot it into the stratosphere where in-camera, practical effects are concerned.

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Though the films have made an effort to point out all the very real, high-wire situations Tom Cruise has placed himself in, there's one sneaky shot in Ghost Protocol that you probably never even considered could be practical.

When Benji (Simon Pegg) is being fitted with a mask in front of a mirror, most would freely assume the shot was achieved with CGI, because why wouldn't it be?

But in truth, the scene was realised with no visual effects whatsoever. Instead, the mirror is simply an empty frame, with six people appearing in the shot on either side of the mirror's threshold - three actors, three stand-ins - and matching their movements to convincingly simulate a reflection.

To make the final effect so convincing, the camera movements and actor blocking had to be absolutely note-perfect.

Though Ghost Protocol isn't the first movie to execute this trick - both Evil Dead II and Terminator 2 have famously done it - given this film's recency, you'd be forgiven for assuming they just pulled it off in post.

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