I have thought the same thing about Faramir, ever since the first time I saw the Peter Jackson movies. Jaclson also should have spent an extra minute or two with the romance between Faramir and Eowyn.

I also was shocked and angry at Peter Jackson. Up until the beheading murder, the scene had been a good visualization of Tolkien's story. Aragorn's moral authority to become king was greatly diminished by this illegal murder of an unarmed messenger, and Tolkien would never have written it. My most charitable interpretation of the beheading is that Jackson never intended to use it in the movie, but only made it as a "joke" to show what he could have done if he wanted to pander to some viewers lust for violence and drama.