I don't think there was too much Arwen in the films, what I don't like
is the way Peter Jackson chose to inject her rather, in her opening scene. Making a bigger deal of Arwen in a film makes enough sense given Aragorn's relationship, and given that Arwen can be used to illustrate the Elven perspective (she is technically half-elven but that doesn't matter much here, especially in the films).
That said, there are other ways to inject her into the film, and you (a director) don't have to wait for the actual scene in the books.
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And about the Ford of Bruinen scene, maybe PJ thought it would be too much for the audience to digest if another character is to be introduced, especially since Glorfindel kinda had a very complicated past... It would be hard to explain how he could just "scare off" the Nazgul by his presence.
Peter Jackson did explain that introducing Glorfindel here, and then introducing Arwen fairly soon after, was arguably too many introductions at this point, especially since Glorfindel essentially vanishes from the tale.
If so, in my opinion we don't really need to introduce Glorfindel as a "character" however. I say keep him off screen for the most part, or seen from a distance, and begin the escape quickly after the revelation that his horse is not that of a Black Rider's -- this could be a tense moment in the films, hearing hoofbeats at first without realizing (right away) that the jingle of the bells means no Black Rider.
And you the director don't have to go into Glorfindel's past at all, especially his past in Gondolin, which even the books don't go into (he is an Elf-lord from Oversea in the books, no mention of his death escaping Gondolin)! Nor do you have to explain why he scares away any Black Riders, if he doesn't.
If I recall correctly, in the films we don't see any of the Company (that was left behind) scaring the riders into the Bruinen. I say play it the same way, except that Frodo is alone on Asfaloth, and the river mysteriously rises to save him. Some might say that this would take too much explanation later, but I don't see why: a single sentence from Gandalf about it being Elrond's doing, with a humourous wink to his watery horses, should work fine in a film.
People do speak in films after all
We can just use the time it took for Arwen to recite her "Bruinen spell" given that she will not be there to say it!
What about Arwen? I say introduce her earlier in the film (than she was), using the Appendices. On the long journey from Bree to Imladris Aragorn has a flashback to their first meeting (since he knows he is trying to get to Rivendell where he will hopefully see her again). This gives us an introduction, based on the book. This also takes "real time" in the theaters -- that is, the journey from Bree to Imladris is long in the book, but you don't want ten minutes of showing Aragorn and the hobbits plodding along in the wild... you just want some of that to suggest a long journey...
... and with a flashback what you get is: plodding along -- ten real minutes of flashback -- back to company still plodding along in another location. In my opinion this can make the journey
seem longer if real time goes by for the audience, and the company has not reached their goal. But in that real time you show something new to keep viewer interest, and introduce a character who has an important role to play in the rest of the tale at hand (unlike Glorfindel).
But even if one disagrees that a flashback will help in that particular sense, again I think Glorfindel could have been used but kept in the background. He arrives in the nick of time to provide the horse for Frodo's escape (in my theoretical film, not the book of course, where he spends some time with the Company before sending off Frodo), and before you know it Frodo is off on Asfaloth, and can have his moment defying the Ringwraiths before the flood saves him.
Book readers will know "it's Glorfindel" but with respect to the film he will be little more than the "Elf-scout from the Elf-realm", whose horse saved Frodo. If we keep him minimal (maybe show a brief conversation between "the Elf" and Aragorn out of earshot and from a distance, from the perspective of the hobbits perhaps), the audience should not feel the need to wonder about him as a "character", not much more than "Elf-guard at Lorien's borders" for example...
... keeping in mind that Peter Jackson chose to give Haldir "more to do" later in the story than he does in the books (in any case).
And there are more options to consider, this is just one idea.
Moreover, even
if you employ Arwen here, why couldn't she have appeared as Glorfindel did, riding Asfaloth (again, pounding hoofbeats are noted at first, initially putting the company in fear of an approaching Black Rider)...
... instead of the invented (and in my opinion inferior) "surprising the Ranger" scene.