Hello,
I'm a new member on this board and I don't know if this topic is going to be deleted, because it's about an issue that's been discussed so much, but I'm looking for people with similar views.
I'm also a fairly new fan of the trilogy (always heard about the movies but only a few years ago took the time to watch them). I've seen them at least 6 times now (and read the book).
Michael Corleone immediately became my favourite character, because he's so fascinating and complex. I read posts on this board and it seems that most people in here seem to think he was all about his ego and cold-blooded since he was born. And this is not exactly how I see the character in the movies. During the first part of the first movie, he is completely normal. He does not come across as cold at all when he's with Kay, buying Christmas gifts, for example, or when he's in the hospital with his father and telling him he's with him now.
Certain kind of coldness might be in someone's nature but that doesn't mean that's the only thing there is or that the person is destined to become a ruthless murderer (Sicilian or not). What Michael eventually became seems like a gradual process caused by all the wrong choices that he made or was forced to make. After that hospital scene his affection for his father seemed so profound that it didn't occur to me that he would ever turn away from Vito, no matter what he'd have to do.
In part two he simply seems like someone who has completely "turned off" his feelings of compassion, because he's not able to face the terrible truth of the life he's chosen and his own actions. He's very aware of it. In part III, he says that clearly: "I betrayed my wife... I betrayed myself."
His flaws - his paranoia, his greed, his anger have overtaken him and so he's psychologically incapable of getting out, no matter how much he wants to. And he clearly wants to. It's just that wanting it and actually doing it are two different things (Michael at that point needed "hardcore therapy").
In part two he often looks guilty to me, especially when he's with Kay, because she's the one who's the reminder of his conscience.
People become terrible and start lashing out on others (especially their loved ones) when deep down inside they're not comfortable with themselves and happy with what they're doing. And Michael Corleone certainly seems like a man who's far from being happy with himself or what he's doing (unlike his father Vito).
I like that character precisely for that same reason... that there's this conflict in him. Not because he was "evil all along".

So I'm wondering if there are people who see him in a similar way.