A while back I was reflecting on Star Wars, and in particular the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. It occurred to me that Vader is the "bad guy", so Anakin becomes Vader despite the audience's wishes—but wouldn't it be great if the audience watched a descent into evil and actually rooted for it the whole time? That would be an achievement indeed. Then I realized that this movie has already been made: it's called The Godfather, with Michael Corleone in the Anakin role. In Part II, we watch Vito Corleone go through the same transformation, and watch Michael descend even further. And, amazingly, we never stop liking them.
These movies have a special meaning for me and deserve special mention:
I love all the Star Wars movies—yes, even Episode I.* It's hard for me to imagine a world without Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Artoo, Threepio, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin/Vader. As a youth, George Lucas was nearly killed in a car crash so bad it made the local newspaper. I find myself retroactively grateful that he survived—my life is much richer for it.
*Watch it again now that you know that Palpatine becomes the Emperor (and turn down the volume for the Jar Jar parts :-). Episode I contains a manufactured crisis—a "phantom menace", if you will—designed to throw the galaxy into chaos, thus laying the foundation for the eventual fall of the Republic and birth of the Empire.