
I have probably watched the two crime action motives, 'Bad Boys' & 'Bad Boys II', on StarHub cable television, more than a dozen times in each case.
My wife often wondered why I could bother or rather have the quiet patience to sit through the two action movies over & over again.
To be honest, I simply loved the high-octane action sequences, the witty dialogue & also enjoyed watching the two fine actors, Will Smith (as Mike) & Martin Lawrence (as Marcus), playing the two street-smart, loose-cannon, wise-cracking police narcotics officers.
In 'Bad Boys II', which I had watched last night, the two nosy cops got entangled with a crime lord from Cuba, who wanted the entire slice of the Miami drug trade.
Marcus's sister, Syd (played by Gabrielle Union), & who was also a love interest of Mike & who also happened to be an undercover DEA operative, got caught unwittingly in the deadly cross-fire. She was kidnapped by the drug lord, & brought to Cuba.
The remaining more or less one-third of the movie showed the rescue attempt right inside Cuba, with the help of a ragtag group of operatives from Police/US Coast Guard/US Special Forces, plus some local anti-Castro rebels, through a myriad of conveniently located underground tunnels.
Interestingly, every time I had watched the movie, I had somehow picked up some useful learning points.
After finally rescuing Syd at the crime lord's residence in Cuba, Mike, Marcus, Syd & another team member, got separated from the main group & could not reach the tunnel in time to escape as Cuban Army forces rushed to the aid of the crime lord.
That was when Mike decided to call the group to abort the original escape plan, while he was planning to go to Plan B. Naturally, while the gunfight was still going on, Marcus irately asked what was Plan B, to which Mike scolded him for not paying attention.
Luckily, the foursome managed to hijack the crime lord's Humvee, & made a daring escape through the foothills & the nearby cocaine-processing shacks along the way, with enemy forces hot on their heels.
This time, the bewildered Marcus asked again whether they were still on Plan B, to which Mike rebutted: "No, this is definitely Plan C."
Humour aside, I certainly like the improvisational creativity routines of Mike.
Transposed to real life, we just go to think on our feet all the time. Shifts happen.
As we confront unexpected difficulties or unintended obstacles along the highway of life, we just got to improvise our way to negotiate them, using whatever resources available at hand.
Remember, the MacGyver Factor!
'Bad Boys II' may just be only a movie, or even a no-brainer to some people for that matter, but for me, I have learned:
In spite of distractions, a presence of mind, or more precisely, awareness of the present moment, & improvisational creativity can always give us the edge in life pursuits.