10 Best CG-Free Martial Arts Movies

Hollywood has always had an uneasy relationship with the martial arts superstars of the East - on the one hand they've been desperate to court them and bring them into the fold, yet on the other it often seems as if they're never quite sure what to do with them once they've flown them over. Clearly impressed with their pugilistic skills, at the same time they're overwhelmed, unable to keep up with the intensity and speed these consummate performers deliver. As a consequence, while there have been a number of blockbuster movies which attempt to fuse the martial arts genre into the American setting, few of them attain the same feeling of authenticity fans of Eastern cinema have come to expect. The performers are asked to slow down, and tighter shots and more edits are employed, in stark contrast to the great kung fu movies of old in which wide shots and long takes fully demonstrated the fighting prowess on display. For fans, the results often feel sanitised, as if the performances had somehow been diluted in crossing the ocean from Asia to America. Of course, America lacks the cultural tradition of martial arts which makes the Asian movies so successful - American actors don't traditionally learn a martial art and as a result the filmmakers often have to augment action scenes with CG effects which, to the purist, is almost sacrilegious. The release of The Raid 2: Berendal, is a welcome reminder that high impact action movies in which stunt work and incredibly talented fighters stand at the fore are still being made - and remain far better than their CG-enhanced counterparts. Here are ten great martial arts movies completely devoid of computer enhancement - films where the fighters and their unique abilities come to the fore and shine (with the occasional helping hand of a little wire-work...)