8 Things Learned From Re-Watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

3. Lucas' Dialogue Is As Clunky As Ever

I was tempted to just put the word "midi-chlorian" here and move on. If ever there was an element of a film which didn't need expository explanation, it's The Force. The Force, one of the most ethereal, transcendent ideas in the history of the movies. The Force, a phrase known to most anyone who's ever seen a film. The Force, an otherworldly essence floating in the ether. The Force, reduced by one stupid hyphenated word to something physical that exists in the bloodstream (or something). Midi-chlorian, something apparently so vital to the Jedi makeup that it's not mentioned once in the eight hours or so of the original trilogy. Elsewhere, there's still Lucas' odd usage and strange grasp of how the English language actually works, presenting itself mostly via fortune cookie snippets uttered by a Liam Neeson doing his best to look serious: "Our meeting was not a coincidence - nothing happens by accident." Worst of all, though, is this much maligned Yoda speech, which manages to make no sense and disregard the whole original Jedi Code - which allows for "Emotion Yet Peace", and "Chaos Yet Harmony" - in just a few misjudged words: "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Angers leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering".