

I doubt he ever questioned anything his father may have thought. They try to make it seem as though Boromir defended his brother and thought ill of his father’s forceful, conniving ways, when in reality, noble as he may have been, Boromir was very much like Denethor in his desire to be king and in thinking of the well-being of Gondor before all else.

The movie accurately depicts the feelings their father Denethor had toward the two (loved and admired Boromir, despised Faramir), but distorts their reactions to that love in a way that only Hollywood could.

The greatest travesty is the terrible transformation of Faramir, Boromir’s brother. True, in the book an entire army of them never forms, and it’s worthwhile to question why they only send one or two at a time to fight, but it is also obvious that as a race their existence was tied to the destruction of Sauron and they couldn’t avoid getting caught up in mortal troubles even if they wanted to. In the movie, it’s made to seem as if their innate slowness hinders the action, and furthermore, that it is only a shallow device for concealing their cowardice – not true in the least! This theme is carried on with the elves, as if Elrond considers himself too lofty to be burdened with aiding Middle Earth in its hour of need. Part of what made them so cool in the book was that they had long memories and deeply hidden but powerful emotions. I understand the need for certain cuts for the sake of time, but I vehemently believe there is no reason at all to change the very essence of a character as it was written by Tolkien. Perhaps it would be fine on its own, but in my humble opinion, it ripped out a great deal of what made the book not only interesting but also genuine. I was terribly disappointed in The Two Towers, the second installation of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
