Changing Lanes - Sad and subtle thriller

I always remember the movie pitch for 1979's 'Alien.' If the legend is correct the film-makers simply said 'Jaws in space' and it was green-lit.  What I'm getting at is that sometimes a film doesn't need to be particularly complicated to be good. 'Changing Lanes' is a film with a very simple premise - two men have a 'near miss' on the freeway (yes, while changing lanes).  What follows is an example of how something as mundane as this can spiral out of control into a tit for tat game of cat and mouse.

Okay, so maybe some men wouldn't go to quite such extremes to get back at each other, but when you have Ben Affleck (at the height of his popularity) and - the ever awesome - Samuel L Jackson, you know you're in for some fireworks.  Affleck is a lawyer in the midst of the most important - and morally dubious – court case of his career.  While Jackson is a former alcoholic whose combination of drinking and temper has lost him his wife and children.  Both of these characters are flawed from the start, but, if nothing else, their encounter with each other helps them refocus their priorities in life and grow as a character.  Therefore, it's hard not to roof for either, as both take turns in playing the hero and the villain.

I won't go into too much detail regarding the story as it twists and turns all over the place and yet is easy to follow at all times - largely because the only direction the story can go is 'downwards,' as the two central leads resort to more and more extreme methods to get what they want, even if what they want is no longer within reach.

The film perfectly depicts today's modern life where we exist at a hundred miles an hour and never take the time to stop, take a deep breath and re-evaluate the things that really matter. 'Changing Lanes' isn't an action film and is only loosely a thriller.  Perhaps more of a 'thriller-drama' if anything, but just because it doesn't display iphones, Twitter or any form of technology that marks it as set 'today' doesn't mean that it isn't timeless because of its central themes of petty revenge and getting your priorities mixed up.

Don't let this minor classic slip by - it's probably a film that can be appreciated by most of us as we can always relate to 'having a really bad day' (although hopefully none of us will ever sink as low as these guys!).

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one