No Film Like 2001, No Film Better

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2005)

It might be fact that there's "no film like" this one, but I freely admit it's my personal opinion that there's "no film better".
2001 is one of those films that is completely timeless. The only thing that makes it appear dated is the pure plot itself in association with the year 2001, which by now we can all understand as yet-another-hyperbolized-future-vision-of-the-60s. Call it 3001 then. Take the date out of it, it's a timeless film.
What I wanted to comment on though is a part of the film that's usually overlooked: the beginning. It's not like people forget the "Ape Sequence", it's just it doesn't stand out in minds usually as much as Hal 9000 and the simple docking of a space ship to the music of the Blue Danube. But the "Ape Sequence", without resorting to spoilers and specifics, captures the essence of the progression of the Human species.
You can look at countless examples in history when the obvious has laid before Human's eyes for a very, very long time, and yet they don't see it. It's almost as if it takes alien intervention, or God's intervention, to suddenly make the epiphany happen. Where one individual can look at something looked at countless times, and see something that's never been seen. The discovery of proof of the atom's existence (rather than the speculation alone) in the 19th century is just one example of this. You have peanut butter and chocolate sitting right next to each other for decades, and in retrospect it's amazing that it took so long for someone to connect the dots. The "Ape Sequence" at the beginning captures this concept of intervention cleaner than the rest of the film.
But the entire film is a complete joy.