re: Europa Report (SPOILERS)

If it was a different kind of movie then I would agree with you. But I don't think of it as primarily being a suspense. The very science fiction idea of discovery and answering the great question of whether or not we are alone in the universe is the most central and important idea. Then the final statement that the sacrifice of human life was well worth the outcome of the mission, as depressing and horrible as it must have been for those people. You would lose some of that if it had ended as you suggested.