Director's Cut/Special Edition

Greetings and Salutations!

What are your thoughts on the 2001 director's cut of the film? I personally loved it as it provided a lot of insight into the motivations of the characters and the flashbacks also reinforced a lot of the movie's most prominent themes. I saw it recently and it made me upgrade my rating for the film from an 8,5 to a 9.  So, what did you think of it? Did you prefer it to the original cut or vice versa? :)