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it made the strength in Men more evident
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Absolutely,
elenquesse. The weakness and corruptibility of characters in the movies is something that has been lamented before,
in this thread on the Movies Forum. I just realised that the movie doesn't really give us much hope. Once the Eldar and Gandalf have gone, there aren't many good role models left! Only Aragorn, who is considerably less noble and confident than in the book, although he finishes much stronger than he starts.
The movies give us a very cynical view of the world of Men, and show the Elves (and Gandalf) as being the only noble and worthy citizens of Middle-Earth (although nassty daddy Elrond certainly has his low points). Therefore it becomes much more like pulp fantasy, where the alternative reality that is presented (i.e. the existence of Elves and Wizards) is far superior to our own. Tolkien, I believe, showed us a world that was much more comparable to ours. True, the Elves were still there to embody the qualities of the pure and righteous, but there were also many fine examples of leaders among Men (even Denethor in his own way).
With the changed characters of Faramir, Denethor and Théoden, and the disappearance of Halbarad and Imrahil, I count only one good man (i.e. someone from the race of Men) in the movies: Aragorn. But even Aragorn is shown to be something more than a man in the TTT EE when Éowyn goes all silly over him being one of the Dúnedain, and a resident of Rivendell. Éomer is not given enough credit as future King of Rohan, Éowyn is shown as quite weak, she shirks her duty readily, and doesn't really come into her own as a leader of her people (particularly since we haven't yet seen her new role as Princess of Ithilien). Even the down-to-earth goodness and strength of Barliman Butterbur is missing, and all the inhabitants of Bree are ferret-stroking, evil-looking creatures.