Agreed. I came away thinking the movie was a complete POS simply from the terrible, terrible ending. I watched it again about a year ago and it didn't get any better.
That's very interested that you're the 2nd person to mention this.
I interpreted what you're talking about more in a "philosophical" sense about what lengths they would go to for the act. That's what the movie was about. The fact that the machine did what it did was essentially irrelevant. It was the price he was paying for it, the not knowing, etc. That's what carries the weight. That's the entire fucking movie. lol
You'll enjoy movies more if you allow yourself to be
drawn in rather than logically critique how realistic they are. They are stories and
none of them are true. Even the ones that say "based on true events". Shocking I know.
This is probably Nolan's best movie and one of my favorite of all time. Everything works together perfectly. One of my favorite qualities of films that I look for is ambience. They need that subtlety and have it all dialed in perfectly. Same reason I love the movies Ghostwriter and Ronin. Not amazing movies by any stretch, but the feeling of them.
Holy shit I miss movies. Have a 10 month old. Don't watch anything any more. :'(