Could it have worked?

[Boromir88]

Look at the fellowship (Excluding Boromir of course) the Ring had little effect on any of them at all, and yet that did not leave anyone questioning the power and allure of the Ring.

That's mostly because Boromir was easy prey for the Ring and the Ring had really no need to work on anyone else. Boromir was the ideal person for the Ring to work on and if he wasn't in the Fellowship it would have found somebody else. Bottom line is Boromir was just the first, and easiest to fall to the ring, and that's why Frodo realized he had to get out of the Fellowship. And once Boromir is out of the picture, in steps Gollum, another easy target...

[Elendhel]

I understand that the fact that the Ring worked it's magic on Boromir means that it had no reason to affect any (more) of the fellowship, and that just confirims my point. There was plenty to suggest that the Ring had power over people. Faramir did not need to be tempted.

Despite the ratio of people that were tempted to the people who weren't, it was clear that the Ring had significant power.

[Meneltarmacil]

Actually, as far as the Fellowship goes, Aragorn also seems to be tempted a little near the end of FOTR, though he resists it.

I do think that Faramir's bringing Frodo, Sam, and Gollum to Osgiliath was not really necessary. Having him show signs of seriously being tempted by the Ring and just barely resisting it while making things tense for Frodo is probably enough. The idea of a flash-forward would fit in really well with PJ's style too.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I think the idea was to give Frodo a threat. Remember that Shelob wasn't there to supply an awesome cliffhanger ( ) so the Director had to give Frodo some action. So he just warped Faramir into a baddie for most of the film.

Sad, I know; but Faramir's not the major character and is thus expendable (not that our major characters were immune from creative liberty but o well...)

My main problem with the Faramir-Osgiliath story is that it's boring and uninteresting. So-called 'action scenes' are not necessarily better than intense Frodo-Faramir interrogation (which would actually include acting).

Think about it this way: We already had the Battle at Helm's Deep; we didn't need much more 'action'! Let's get some acting in the films; that's going to be much better than having some random Gondorian soldier shouting "Look out!" shortly before a wall in Osgiliath collapses. (And how come all the action and noise stopped for a couple of seconds so that everyone could hear that guy's helpful remark? What was that all about?)

Free Faramir! Send Shelob back to TTT!

[Tuor of Gondolin]

(About movie "story arch")
It's hard to say which was worse character assassination in the films,
Denethor or Faramir, and both of the changes by PJ and friends
actually weakened the film story vis-a-vis the book. Especially irritating
was the expressed view of (Fran Walsh?) about Faramir needing a
"character arch". This shows the limited creativity in film these days.
Why shoudn't some characters, especially in film terms "minor" ones,
have a steady "character"?

P.S. An even worse example of Hollywood/film imagination is the
endless procession of remakes, sequels, movies based on TV shows, etc.

P.P.S. I still give FOTR movie a B+, but the other two lesser grades,
largely due to some ridiculous changes, generally all all too well known.
In the interests of "Character archs" the movies generally simplified
many fascinating characters (Faramir, Denethor, Gimli--- perhaps PJ or FW
will tell what happened to his character arch).

P.P.P.S. But there's no denying the brilliant scenary, selection of
actors, etc.

P.P.P.P.S. And I have to admit one of my favorite bits is the rather
sexy first film encounter of sword-wielding Arwen and Aragorn.

[Dimturiel]

What I notice about the movie is that it has a rather negative attitude towards Men. I mean, look at the way Denethor is made to look far worse than he really is,or how Aragorn attaks the Mouth of Sauron for no reason and how Faramir tries to take the Ring. All these changes affected me deeply,especially when it could have been so great to just stick to the book. I would have liked to see Faramir shown as the noble man that he really is and I would have prefered the things that he says to Frodo-especially when he confesses that he does not love war in itself, but what it deffends- to all the fight scenes at Osgiliath, no matter how exiting they might be to the person sitting next to me at the cinema

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, that's the thing: I didn't think the Faramir/Osgiliath fighting scenes were exciting at all. The only bit I liked was Mardil/Madril/Mablung/Macbeth/Grey-haired guy getting stuck like a pig. (Get it? Like a pig? Because Gothmog....nevermind.)

I liked the hopeless charge but that wasn't much of a fight, and it was book-based. It is the extra action scenes which didn't add anything.

Free Faramir!