Don’t let the title fool you, “Changing Lanes” deals with an awful lot of rage, but not really road rage. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck, both doing a great job, “Changing Lanes” is an intense drama, exceeding its ambition and providing much more than the revenge thriller movie trailers make it out to be.

Jackson plays Doyle Gipson, a recovering alcoholic trying to get his life together and keep his ex-wife from moving away with his children - an effort contingent on a good showing at court that morning.

Affleck plays Gavin Banek, a hotshot lawyer who just made partner at his firm. Banek also is on the way to court to present some papers that prove his firm was placed in charge of a newly formed $100 million charity.

A traffic snafu brings the two together in a collision. Gipson’s car is inoperable, Banek’s is fine. But rather than exchange insurance information as Gipson requests, Banek wants to write Gipson a blank check. So Banek drives off, leaving Gipson with a flippant “better luck next time.”

Only problem is, Banek has left an important file on the side of the road, and Gipson has it. Once Gipson loses the court battle with his ex-wife, it’s revenge time - or so the trailers have us believe.

This is when “Changing Lanes” starts to force its two leads to look at their own actions as they begin to infiltrate each other’s lives. In the end, both are more distressed by their own actions than anything that anyone else could do to them.

And it is in that examination of their rage that the film comes out on top. Rather than just going from cliché to cliché, “Changing Lanes” ends up a thoughtful and entertaining introspective on morality and responsibility.