To me I felt like that movie had a lot more than just the secret handshake at the end that was ambiguous and open-ended. I think the movie did a very good job of letting you into the secret cult as if you, the viewer, were a new recruit and then giving you enough insight to let you make up your mind about it. Many of the scenes are open-ended in interpretation and I think it depends on the viewer's own beliefs if s/he chooses to believe the science-fiction plot or the realistic plot. The finale itself could be interpreted either way without discrediting the other point of view. That's what makes it a good open-ended plot in my opinion.
I also think the movie exercised very good restraint in not giving the viewer access to very much information throughout. Most movies suffer from providing you with more information than any single character, but in this movie there are many things that the characters know which the viewer doesn't know, for example:
-Whether Peter was actually abused by his grandfather or if he just played along with Maggie's story
-What Lorna learned from the so-called Department of Justice agent about the cult's plot, especially involving children
-How Peter and Lorna learned about the cult and what training they did before being inducted
What do you think?
P.S. I don't think I agree with your interpretation about the movie's theme. I think it has more to do with life and happiness than taking care of our Earth. It never really seemed like Maggie was trying to prevent any type of bad future from happening, if you believe in her story. According to Maggie, she didn't come back on purpose but merely woke up in a bathtub in the past one day. She seems to want to meet the people who influenced her life and try to help empower them. Her instructions for a "mission" were very vague, but perhaps that's just the movie withholding more information from us.
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