Beebonic,
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evil is something inherent in mankind's nature--well, maybe that is stating it too strongly
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Not sure if it is, really. What we would see as a reasonable desire for dominion, control, resides happily within all of us. We want control, quite naturally, over our thoughts, our physical selves, our 'personal space', our homes, our lifestyles, our friendships...the bubble expands to varying degrees. Pushing the envelope too far, as encouraged by Tolkien's device, is the true folly. Not the 'evil' desire itself, but the failure to moderate and temper it.
More cinematically, I’m not sure any but one or two of the actors had anything close to the talent required to display what some posters wanted to see. McKellan showed flashes of insight, but as with most of the better elements of the film, they are swiftly washed away in a maelstrom of FX laden set-pieces.
Don’t misunderstand your humble correspondent, I would have enjoyed a thoughtful film more dependant on the internalised struggle as well, but it would have simply been an entirely different experience, and not the choice made either by the studio or the director. Not to harp on the same point, but the film made the choice to be what was considered to be the easier sell.
Absolutely, trivialising the evil is a sad failure to explore the theme of the book, but neither could it have been displayed effectively in its true guise (internal, everlasting, the strand of sorrow that stems forth from it), in my opinion - and certainly not with that cast.
Basically, some want cake, and they got it. Some wanted an altogether more difficult-to-bake sort of biscuit - and they have that too, it's just on the page, not the screen.