Major character flaws keep this from being great

Rating: 6/10 (13 July 2013)

I just saw Man of Steel a couple of hours ago and the main feeling I came away with was mostly fun. There's a lot of action and the flashbacks don't detract from the progress of the movie. I'm not a Zack Snyder fan because I think he's much better at doing visuals than he is telling a story. Despite this, I did really enjoy "Watchmen" and thought he did a great job with it.
My main problem with the movie is not the plethora of smaller goof-ups but the major flaw of the character played by Kevin Costner.Jonathan Kent is the father of the main character in every real sense other than blood. He raised him and helped form his code of ethics. The message he constantly drummed into Clark was "Don't be a hero. Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't stand up for yourself or others. People on Earth won't understand you and will hurt you." Where did Clark's morality to protect the weak and even his desire to protect the Earth from his own people come from? Jor-el (Russell Crowe) had that kind of morality but Clark doesn't meet him until after he's an adult. Where did the drive to be Superman come from if he's been told not to be a hero because earthlings will kill you his entire life?
That's really the biggest flaw I see in the movie. The wholesale death and destruction of Metropolis comes in second. OK, you've bought that somehow Clark has become a model hero despite his upbringing. How do you reconcile his hero status with what had to be an astronomical death toll in his home city? He never tries to avoid crashing through buildings, collapsing them on civilians. He never tries to lead Zod away from civilization where noncombatants won't be hurt.
As a summer blockbuster, this movie hits with a lot of action. The fight scenes are visually stunning. The special effects are wonderful. General Zod is a great character. You can understand his motivation even if you don't agree with it. If they had the Costner character go in a different direction and had an explanation for why the fight had to happen in Metropolis it would have been a much better movie. That's why I gave it a 6 out of 10. With all the good things in this movie, it's still hard to get over the flaws about the character the movie is all about.