Critics and Some Reviewers Must Have Missed the Plot, Because the Answers are in the Movie (or this review)

Rating: 8/10 (23 June 2013)

Spoilers ahead! I have never felt compelled enough to write a review for a movie, but after being impressed by this one and seeing how much people have missed in it, I decided just to put down what I thought was obvious. So here it goes:
Argument 1: Superman could defeat Zod even though Zod adapted and trained his whole life and Superman just trained on a farm. -- Counterargument: Zod lost EVERY single reason for living at this point. His followers had been warped to the Phantom Zone. The codex is USELESS because the Genesis Chamber where babies are made has been destroyed. The key thing is: Zod lost his WILL to fight, even though he had the capability. Kal-El, on the other hand, had EVERY reason to fight: to save his people of Earth. When it comes to a battle of wills, Kal's bond with his parents (on that farm) won.
Argument 2: Superman was being UNHEROIC for destroying infrastructure and perhaps lives by fighting Zod and his minions in the city. -- Counterargument: If Superman's fight with a despairing Zod was already difficult, imagine what the fight would be with TWO kryptonians at full strength! Why do people think that Superman CHOSE to fight in the city? The fight was brought to him! Where else would he have fought them? The Kryptonian invaders may ALSO have chosen to fight in the city to DEMORALIZE Kal-el, with his city and his people being destroyed all around him.
Argument 3: Zod's reasons for his actions were not explained in the movie. -- Counterargument: Krypton was built with every person being designated a role. Your life surrounded this role given to you. Zod's role was "warrior," and as a warrior he was tasked to protect Krypton. A way to do this is to "create" a new Krypton to protect. Superman's father saw how destructive delegating roles was, and told Zod this. This is one of the main reasons why this movie stands out so much to me. A sympathetic villain is a SURE sign that the movie has things going right for it. Zod just can't stop, because this is what he's been bred to do for his whole life. How sad is that? Truly, he was a product of his society, just as Jor-El said.
FINAL argument 4: Superman taking a life goes against EVERYTHING he is. -- Counterargument: Zod manipulated Superman into doing this. This decision will probably haunt Clark for the REST of his life. It helps that Zod was Kryptonian and DID have a fair chance at defending himself. (Now for the animated Justice League where Dark Superman killed a human, that was significant in a different way, enough to change the universe.) However, Kal-El knew how Zod had lost EVERYTHING. Zod told him, and obviously was despairing. If anything, this was a mercy killing. The implications must be examined in the sequel or else this whole first movie was a waste.
Additional pluses for the movie: Every person was a superman/woman in times of crises. Lois Lane was useful AND now understands Kal-el unlike any other (heck, she even met the family!! Albeit, a ghost).
I look forward to having Superman face Luthor. Luthor is a great manipulator and will target Clark's weak points with great finesse. Killing a person will DEFINITELY be a devastating point for Luthor to target. Development of Lois's relationship with Clark will be interesting, such as her dealing with his responsibility to the world.