'Die Hard' Is A Perfect Movie For Entering 2017

The holiday season puts a focus on family, friends, sentimental Christmas greetings, and joyful gift giving. However, it also becomes a time for reflection, a period for us to review the year and try to figure out ways we can come out stronger in the months to come. If you're trying to head into the New Year with renewed strength and purpose, there is one movie that will inspire you to get through whatever struggles come your way: Die Hard .

The 1988 classic holiday movie centers around John McClane, played by Bruce Willis, a New York City detective who is in Los Angeles trying to save his marriage when everything thing starts to spiral downward. Heavily armed villains break into McClane’s wife's office building during their Christmas party and take her and her coworkers hostage. John comes in to save the day, and by the end, he's discoverd the importance of family and friendship by making amends with his wife and hugging it out with his new best friend, Powell.

For the people who think that viewing two hours of bloody shootouts isn’t a solid basis for a "get my mind right" Christmas movie, I disagree, and here's why.

McClane Finds A Greater Purpose

Not only is the character fighting to get his wife back, but he fights thieves who planned a massive heist of hundreds of millions of dollars, during a season that is suppose to celebrate charitable giving. Despite the events being way more than McClane expected to have to deal with, he managed to tough it out, and he ends up the last one standing. His desire to fight crime and benefit the greater good shows he cares about more than just himself.

Love Drives Him Forward

McClane crawls through air ducts, jumps on top of a moving elevator, puts his life on the line through cross fire, and almost bleeds to death. If that doesn't show his love for his wife and the greater the good, then I don't know what does. The character knows early on what he wants — his wife back — and it's the driving force for everything in this movie. For any underdog, there has to be something that you care about enough to make you get up and fight for it.

Courage Is Everything

McClane takes on a task that many people would've turned away from while the police try to stop him, and he still gets what he wants at the end. In order for him to do so, he has to have courage. Towards the end of the movie, when he is reaching the breaking point of jumping off a skyscraper, McClane wonders how he got into the mess he's in, but he pushes through the doubt, jumps off the building, and breaks through glass windows to save the day. His love for his family drives him forward and brings out his bravery.

Anything you want to accomplish in 2017 is going to require you to push yourself through some difficult situations, but in order to come up on top ,you have to fight hard and put everything in your life towards that goal. Use Die Hard to ignite that fire in you and motivate you to succeed.

Images: 20th Century Fox, Giphy