>>212496720>What did he think he was achieving by trying to kill some random civilians?I think you misunderstood the film. He was going to kill every last human on Earth. One by one, and he was getting stronger and more capable as he adapted to Earth's atmosphere.
>but it has a few really weird choices that bring it down, like Pa Kent insisting that saving people is wrong and stoically dying for it.The point is to shatter the idealism that Superman fans like to cling to. They explain it in BvS.
"While I was eating my hero cake, their horses were drowning." The idea is that Pa Kent as a boy saved the farm by working all night to build a dam. And it sent the water downstream and killed every horse at the Lang Farm. Pa Kent is terrified of the prospect that Clark's desire to do good could launch the world into a destructive spiral. This is why Perry White kills the Superman story Lois is working on. What if there is a Superman? Then the world is going to implode.