It is certainly better and more fleshed out, but the biggest dissapointment for this release is that the music- though heavily altered- is NOT the original score.. still. As it stands there are a few parts edited in from other movies that work a lot better(Achilles and Patroclus practicing swordplay comes to mind) but there are still plenty of bad moments and even a few new bad ones.
Overall it's a better film, but still has a few flaws and even introduces a few more. For example, they kept the "I AM AJAX" line and the battle scenes, while extended and far more brutal, are clearly not polished and look like something out of an Oliver Stone film.
I'd say the two greatest things about the new edition can be found on Helen's chest, and the boxed set blue packaging is probably the nicest packaging I've seen for a DVD ever. It's improved, but still far from perfect.
For a far better Director's Cut of a similar theatricle cluster****, check out the Kingdom of Heaven DC :-P