White Dragon (TV - 2018) - UK
Aka Strangers
- 8 Episodes (60 minuted per Episode
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
Hong Kong star Anthony Wong and British star John Simm headlines this intriguing British TV murder thriller set largely within the neon lighting of modern Hong Kong. It highlights the highest levels of corruption within government figures, diplomats and the police force. We get to witness the always happening city of Hong Kong as the backdrop and important cast member for setting the tone and premises for the series and story.
British star John Simm stars the husband of a dead wife who was largely based in Hong Kong for work. Upon her death, Simm discovers his wife for 5 years have a double life where she have been married with a grown up daughter (played by Harry Porter’s Katie Leung) and Hong Kong former corrupt police husband (played wonderfully by Anthony Wong). Wong performs particularly well and given his reduced cinematic inputs for local cinema due to the city’s own self censorship across the Mainland, we get a powerful and intense presence in his first venture into British TV. Leung does well as rebellious daughter and Simm holds his own as his “fish out of water” Hong Kong experience goes into murky and often grey areas of the city’s most powerful and dominant. Kenneth Tsang appears as Chief Executive elect is a welcome inclusion.
All in all, “White Dragon” displays plenty of diversity in modern Hong Kong from racial diversions, modern politics, reduced foreign impact from the past Colonial era and a police force that is crippled by the city’s rich and powerful. It’s very much an expat’s vision of Hong Kong, rather than the other way around. Director Paul Andrew Williams handles the actors extremely well and deliberately pace the series with a good balance of mystery and tension all the way up the the intriguing finale. I liked this kind of TV-drama as it show a different side of Hong Kong and a era bygone.
I rated it 7.5/10