I've been saying this for years. The director's cut was attempting to make a modern David Lean style epic in the vein of Lawrence of Arabia.
The theatrical cut tried to chop it down to be a bog-standard Hollywood action film, at the expense of pacing, plot, and characters.
Director's Cuts aren't alwyas superior though.. I prefer the theatrical releases of Alien, The Shining, Fellowship of the Ring, Amadeus, to name a few..
If you wrote a post (or posts) like this one detailing your reasoning, I'd like to read it.
hell, it can ruin the movie in some cases, like Donnie Darko