I think some of Jackson's dialogue actually plays better than the book. Aragorn's entrance at Bree, for example, is super.
And I also like how Legolas is the one who stands up in defense of Aragorn and goes after Boromir (this role was stolen from Bilbo).
In the book Aragorn is actually a little too forward:
'The words were not the doom of Minas Tirith,' said Aragorn. `But doom and great deeds are indeed at hand. For the Sword that was Broken is the Sword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell. It has been treasured by his heirs when all other heirlooms were lost; for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again when the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found. Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?'
Too fast there Strider! - He didn't even know who you were until two minutes ago, and you want to ask if he would give up the throne for you? - Jackson let Aragorn be a little more subtle, and let Legolas handle the elephant in the room that clearly needed to be mentioned. I like how it played.
...for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again when the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found. Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?'
This question Aragorn asks makes me think back to the time of Christ. When He first came He offered Himself as King. He too was rejected, as Aragorn was rejected by Boromir at first.
I wonder if that was in the back of Tolkien's mind while he was writing, being a Catholic and all.
-Kevin
Oh I don't know...I'd like to have seen Strider try to convince the hobbits to trust him.
Now that I'm at home with more Tolkien stuff (and a pint), I went to Letters to find out what Tolkien had to say about Boromir. What I found in Letter 154:
Some reviewers have called the whole thing smiple-minded just a plain fight between Good and Evil with all the good just good, and the bad just bad. Pardonable, perhaps (though at least Boromir has been overlooked) in people in a hurry, and with only a fragment to read, and, of course, without the earlier written but unpublished Elvish histories. But the Elves are not wholly good or in the right. Not so much because they had flirted with Sauron; as because with or without his assistance they were 'embalmers'. They wanted to have their cake and eat it: to live in the mortal historical Middle-earth because they had become fond of it (and perhaps because they there had the advantages of a superior caste), and so tried to stop its change and history, stop its growth, keep it as a pleasaunce, even largely a desert, where they could be 'artists'-and they were overburdened with sadness and nostalgic regret. In their way the Men Of Gondor were similar: a withering people whose only 'hallows' were their tombs. But in any case this is a tale about a war, and if war is allowed (at least as a topic and a setting) it is not much good complaining that all the people on one side are against those on the other. Not that I have made even this issue quite so simple: there are Saruman, and Denethor, and Boromir; and there are treacheries and strife even among the Orcs.So Boromir, Denethor, and Saruman are each caught in the "gray area" between Good and Evil. Saruman becomes Evil, Denethor...Spoiler (highlight to read)... gives up the battle, and Boromir fights the good fight despite his faults.