The pike phalanx was actually pretty active in battle.

Imagine a man with a pike (and lets assume he is protected so he can use the pike effectively), such a pike would be pretty heavy (hence two hands), and it would taper into a relatively small head. Combine the strength of two hands thrusting, with the relatively heavy weight and small point... You effectively end up with something that is armour piercing. In fact the Romans found that their shields were penetrated in the battles with Pyrrhus. The shields were penetrated? That is pretty bad for the frontline troops. And the way it is presented makes it clear that the Romans suffered a lot of casualties through their otherwise excellent shield (the heavy republican shield, not the lighter imperial shield). That says soemthing of the killingpower of the pikes when in formation.

I have heard that the main problem for the phalangites when in combat with non-pikeformation was getting the bodies off the pikes again. That implies that the pikes were considerably more deadly than just static points.

Also, as teh pikes advanced they would compress the enemy formation. Trust me, it is not easy for a formation of men to walk backwards without falling over, it is however much easier to advance, but in this case only the pikes could advance. See the problem the Romans faced? It is impressive that they manged to stay together at all.

Btw, Magnesia was lost because the Romans won the cavalry fights and the pikes were spread out too much, not forming a single line that could soak up the Roman infantry. Bad planning really.