The Necromancer is a better villain than Sauron (Spoiler warning)

[Johnny Novgorod]

I thought the Necromancer stuff seemed shoved in to the Hobbit 2 to make an unbearably long film even more long.

Er, then how would you explain the departure of Gandalf from Hobbit 2 for nearly the entire run length of the film if you're not giving him something to do for a good two, maybe 2.5 hours of the film time?

Very simple, don't turn it into an issue. Worked in the book, can work in the movie. Just make it shorter and don't pad it so much.

 

[CloudAtlas]

Then there's the matter of scale. In the LOTR, Sauron is most definitely at the height of his power. (...)

Not to nit-pick, but the height of Sauron's power was during the War of the Last Alliance.

Other than that, yes, Sauron is no particularly interesting antagonist in the LOTR. He's just evil, he wants to subjugate all peoples and bring eternal darkness upon the world or something. There's nothing morally ambivalent about him and his intentions. The way he came into power, how he tricked and deceived men, elves and dwarves, that is more interesting, but that mostly happened long before the events of the LOTR and the Hobbit alike. LOTR just has the Ring, but you know, that's something too.