10 Best CG-Free Martial Arts Movies

6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released in 2000, director Ang Lee was heralded by Western martial arts fans as the heir to the wuxia throne, previously occupied by A Touch of Zen's King Hu. It was every bit the epic of the old masterpiece - a riveting tale of rivalry, deception and love adapted from the work of one of the great Chinese novelists of the 20th century, Wang Dulu. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon revolves around a great warrior Li Mu Bai (Yun-Fat) who loses his treasured sword to a thief and sets out to retrieve it - and exact revenge on the man who killed his master. Shot with a painterly cinematography, the film stood out for its action sequences, in which Yuen Woo-ping suspended his actors over rooftops and in the upper canopy of forests, engaging in combat as eloquent and melodramatic as the story itself. It is wire-work at its most seamless and effective, perfectly in keeping with the near-mythological tone of the source material and the transcendent spirit of Zen infused throughout. A raft of other wuxia-inspired movies predictably followed after the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with a number of them almost achieving the same level of greatness. A sequel was announced in 2013, with Donnie Yen reportedly taking the lead role and Michelle Yeoh reprising the role of Yu Shu Lien. It remains to be seen whether or not Ang Lee will assume responsibilities behind the camera.