LOTR Twin Towers extended DVD

[Nubclear]

LoTR

[Immortal Wombat]

Russia

[Lord Merciless]

Russia

[Verto]

Ice Cream

[reismark]

Faramir is a far more compelling character in the movies than he was in Tolkien's books. In the books, he's so virtuous to the point that it makes you sick. No human is supposed to even come close to Aragorn in that type of character, and for a perfectly logical reason. Peter Jackson has made him both a flawed character and a multi-dimensional one - in a word, human. The contrast between Boromir & Faramir in the books is way too skewed - the movie's interpretation corrects the skew. They're still different - but Faramir is still much like his brother here than in the book, as he should be. Bravo, Peter.

Spoiler:

There's an added scene where Sam tries to reach out to Gollum to reassure him that Frodo meant him no harm, but that Frodo was trying to save him. I don't know if I like it or not. In the original cut, it ends up so the audience thinks that Gollum doesn't know the truth about the events down at the Forbidden Poll and is out for revenge. With this scene in, you know Gollum knows the truth - and it makes his plan just seem vindictive. I liked the original spin better, I think.

[Arrian]

Bah! I still disagree. I LIKED the virtuous Faramir. Didn't make me sick.

If you want to talk about how a character effects the overall plot & other characters, the virtuous Faramir's contrast with Boromir really highlights Denethor's distain for Faramir. Faramir is supposed to be a throwback to a more glorious past, when men of Gondor weren't just warriors, but were also men of thought, art, culture, etc. He's a more complete man. Most of Gondor, however, has lost that. Denethor prefers his more martial minded son, Boromir (probably because he's convinced that only fighting matters anymore, given the power of Mordor... the influence of his use of the Palantir).

Pointless debate, of course. You like movie Faramir, I like book Faramir. To each their own.

-Arrian