10 Recent Movie Effects You Thought Were CGI (But Weren't)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings boasts the VFX-driven majesty you'd expect from any Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, but some of its best moments were actually captured totally in-camera, namely its spectacular martial arts action sequences.

Case in point, we have Shang-Chi's (Simu Liu) early fight against the masked assailant Death Dealer (Andy Le).

Though the bulk of the scene is clearly the result of endlessly rehearsed fight choreography, there's one moment which many likely assumed was CGI-assited.

Mid-fight, Shang-Chi manages to knock Death Dealer's knife out of his hand and catch it in a single fluid movement, which is so damn slick and balletic it'd be reasonable to expect the knife was 100% CGI in this shot and simply painted in during post-production.

But actor Liu confirmed on social media that the moment was pulled off entirely practically, stating that it took "175 takes and a truckload of gauze." We'll assume he's joking about that last part.

As impressive a physical specimen as Liu clearly is, it wouldn't have surprised anyone if the production didn't have time to try their luck filming such a short moment in the film for real, but alas, they got it done legit.