THX-1138 Has the Coldest ending I've ever seen for a film antagonist

Recently I rewatched George Lucas' THX-1138, his first film.If you've seen it you know the Plot THX is a Man trapped, enslaved basically in a futuristic Dystopia. While we don't really get answers the ruling class appears to be cybernetic, with chrome bodied Police Officers enforcing every aspect of these citizen's lives.THX (Robert Duvall) wakes up one day and rebels against the system, ultimately forcing him to flee the complex he's been living in. He is pursed by the Chrome Robot Police throughout the film and we see him passing through various layers and sections of the world trying to just "Get out".Basically any films antagonist has specific motivations, and we've seen numerous examples of great Robotic or on-screen villains. You have T-1000 and Agent smith but even Agent Smith at a certain point conveys a sense of pathos, almost human rage towards the humans. T-1000 feels robotic but also seems to be at least someone engaged with it's prey.What was so striking about the Robots in THX is, there is no animosity. There is no anger toward THX's character. The level of indifference the entire system conveys toward him is what is so unnerving. It drives home this feeling of how truly insignificant THX is to them. He is not a "One man revolution" to them, he is an ant that crawled out it's ant farm.At the end, he is desperately trying to escape the robots, climbing the latter of a massive airduct, to him everything is on the line. He could die at any second. The Robot's are climbing up after him in hot pursuit, but what happens? Does he gun them down, or get them blown up to stop them? No, the machines simply run a number crunch on cost feasibility and whether or not it's efficient to continue pursuing him. It turns out it's not. So the machines simply stop, they turn and leave, knowing he'll likely die anyway.That, innert, total indifference to me was far, far creepier than some robot delivering monologues and relishing a beatdown. There was no rage, no need to set an example. You don't give a monologue to an insect before you squash it. Seeing this play out in the film is likes of a level of realness I don't think I've really seen since in Science Fiction. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/3nwCwoN