False advertising is a strong statement, but one can’t help but feel cheated after seeing director Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster.”

Advertisements for the film boast “presented by Martin Scorsese.” Putting the name Scorsese on a film is a very smart thing to do.

Other advertisements proclaim the name Ip Man, the man famous for being the master of Bruce Lee. The Ip Man character has already been the subject of two cult kung fu hits.

In reality, “The Grandmaster” was a bait and switch.

This was not a kung fu movie. It was a movie about kung fu. The difference? The film focused far too much on aesthetic scenes instead of the martial art itself.

It seems like half the movie was in slow motion. And not slow motion fighting, but slow motion scenes of snow and rain falling or lights flickering. Pretty, but not kung fu.

On the other side of the coin, many of the kung fu scenes went by too fast and many were shot at weird angles. It felt like a smoke and mirrors approach to kung fu choreography.

Theres no denying that the sets and filmography were beautiful, but it sacrificed the rawness that kung fu lovers have come to crave.

“The Grandmaster” is the title of the film, but one can’t be sure who the grandmaster actually is. Supposedly Ip Man is the main character, and he is in the beginning, but there seemed to be a whole movies worth of story tucked in the middle about a female martial artist named Gong Er and her father.

Perhaps it is only the case for audiences from more western cultures, but the story didn’t completely make sense and continually got off track. This isn’t uncommon for a kung fu flick, but when there is a serious lack of kung fu, it makes a huge difference.

Many potentially great scenes ended up being anti-climactic. One pivotal battle ends on a technicality and another never even happens because the fighters are too great and respect each other too much.

Most of the last 30 minutes were drawn out slow motion scenes with emotional music. The attempt at setting a deep tone ultimately failed.

“The Grandmaster” did have its classic kung fu moments. There was wisdom from masters and bold challenges from fighters which the crowd really responded to, but ultimately it got too caught up in it’s own world and style.

This may have been a decent drama, but after being drawn in by commercials for a kung fu action movie, it wasn’t up to par.