Upon a third viewing, a drastic change of opinion

Rating: 7/10 (13 October 2014)

When I first saw this movie in theaters, I absolutely loved it. Yes, it was nowhere near as dark or as realistic as Nolan's Batman trilogy, but that was and still is perfectly fine. I could tell upon seeing this movie that Man of Steel was not trying to copy the Batman franchise, but establish something of its own, which I greatly respected and think was a wise move.
After I finished watching Man of Steel a second time, I felt like Superman finally got a proper treatment that previous movies (Superman Returns) had failed to give him. He appeared heroic, just, and altogether everything you would want to see in Superman with a sense of relatibility, much like you would find in the source material.
Then I watched the movie a third time.
Let me clarify, my opinion on the depiction of Superman did not change after I viewed the film a third time. I feel like that was handled well. My opinion changed on the villainy of Zod. Zod, who is by far the films's main antagonist, is depicted in a manner that ultimately gives him little to no room to be liked. Zod is doomed to be hated from the start. Yes, I get that he's a villain and this is a superhero movie, but Zod is different. He didn't have a choice. After the whole dialogue in the beginning on how Superman is going to be different because he'll be able to choose, we're told that everyone else on Krypton is born with a predetermined task for them, including Zod. So, by this, we can basically conclude that all of Zod's evil actions are not necessarily done to be evil, but because it's his job. Zod is simply trying to do what he was created for because frankly, he has no other choice. Yet, Zod is made to look like he has a choice in the matter and that's why we're led to hate him and really root for Superman.
Now, I still think Man of Steel was a good Superman movie, but not as good as it could have been. I think a villain definitely should be in control of their own actions in a movie because what makes them evil is the fact that they WANT to be evil. In Zod's case, he was doing his programmed job and was essentially killed for it. To be perfectly honest, I feel more sad for Zod getting killed for wanting to fulfill his goal in life than for anything else in this movie. Hopefully the following Superman movies don't fall in the trap of not providing properly crafted villains, especially ones that can actually have a choice in choosing to be evil.