Still way ahead of it's time

Rating: 10/10 (23 August 2004)

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**
This film leaves film-goers divided into the "uh, I fell asleep with cousin Cletus and Billy-Bobb" and "that was one of the greatest movies of all time" categories.
The Dawn of Man. Somewhere on Earth apes struggle in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Kill. Eat. Mutate. Survive. The weakest are forgotten, the strong remain. Basic animal instincts keep them in check. Cue the Black Monolith. The apes have no idea of it's purpose, nor of who put it there or why. It's alien to the world they live in and treat it with caution.
Then one of the most symbolic moments in movie history. The primordial image of an ape smashing a skull with a bone, then throwing the bone into the sky. Cut to black and space-ship floating through the heavens.
Something has been discovered on the Moon, but all the ivory tower egg-heads want to close rank and not discuss it in the outside world. Cue a brief cameo from Leonard "Rigsby" Rossiter.
Onto the Moon itself, where a second Black Monolith has been discovered. It's been deliberately buried into the lunar surface. As the humans approach, a piercing noise destroys the hearing of the team digging up the strange structure.
Cut to a mission to Jupiter where the Black Monolith was emitting some kind of signal and a computer that's going crazy. This is such a key part to the movie. The interactions with Dave and HAL are fantastic.
After switching off HAL after he's gone computer senile, Dave heads into The Infinite. The aliens who placed the Black Monolith on Earth all those aeons ago, have summoned Mankind to them.
One of the greatest films ever made. A soundtrack to die for and the cinematography is out of this world (excuse the lame pun).