I actually even really liked movie Faramir as a flawed and conflicted hero in the (extended, of course) movies. His guerilla rangers when we first see him are just awesome in a Robin Hood kind of way.

Faramir is one of my favorite non-Fellowship characters, because while they feel like who we might aspire to be, Faramir feels like who we might actually be. I haven't met him in the book yet. :)

He really really struggles with his limited knowledge and the sway of the ring, as his brother did, as we might in his shoes. Also he's so tragically short-changed his entire life, but he's still trying to be noble and do what's best for his people. He struggles between being noble vs. the more convenient path of being the pragmatically "gray moral" that's so in vogue in storytelling these days.

The hardest part is watching him keep trying to impress a father who obviously hates him. We've all watched people do that again and again in toxic relationships, if it wasn't us ourselves. We shout at the screen "WHY, MAN?!" but we get it...

If anything against him, I was a little upset that he let his personal feelings convince him to drag his loyal and trusting men-at-arms into an obviously bone-headed suicide rush out of despair. The moment was tragic and poetic, brilliant storytelling, but tactically...

...he didn't get to use any of his strengths. If he took his rangers to Osgiliath in the dead of night like spec-ops, sniping orcs from the shadows, they might have fared very well before the Nazgul showed up.

Then again, perhaps Sauron's forces are more adept in the darkness...and of course, even if he retook the city against all odds, his dad would still disparage him. :(