The worst movie ending ever...

Well personally I like nonlinear narrative, also, as with a lot of non linear narratives it's open to speculation but I'll give my idea,

I'm not able to explain every single thing about the ending as it shifts from linear narrative into metaphor, but also, we're dealing with the next step in human evolution fueled by something that may be beyond human comprehension, so a confusing ending as actually very fitting

It's a film about the next steps of the evolution of mankind, the whole way through the film the monoliths have been tracking and aiding human progress, and cultural and evolutionary benchmarks, apes using tools, traversing other planets and getting to the distance in the galaxy of the final monolith

My interpretation of the final 30ish mins of the film is Dave taking that next step in human evolution, being transported to an almost zoo like area containing all the things the monolith has advanced, showing him while being transported there knowledge beyond our comprehemsiom, creation of the universe etc

Just before Adam dies the monothith appears again to him and as he does transforms him into the starchild, the beginning of the next step

Here's where I'm conflicted, the final images of the film are either literal, the starchild has been sent back to earth to finish the monoliths work, or its all metaphor, its a metaphorical image of the birth of the new human race, shown to us as a metaphor because our minds wouldn't be able to comprehend it, at least not until after the next step in human advancement