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The title of this column is misleading. Taken literally, it means that I would be embarrassed by films I like that are deemed terrible by others. I have no shame, though. I’m not embarrassed by any film I like, and I’m damn proud of it. My pleasures aren’t guilty at all.

Say what you will about Armond White (and let’s hope that it’s only negative), but he’s right on one topic: Jason Statham is one of the most reliable stars today. His films usually perform decently-to-very well at the box office, they’re often acceptable at the least to solid (but usually not surpassing that – the closest he’s probably come to an overall great movie is The Bank Job), and he’s got the charisma to carry just about everything. Yet every film he’s in stays neatly within genre and doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The Transporter or The Italian Job hardly redefine the action genre. Hell, even Crank didn’t. It left that job to the sequel.

When I saw Crank in theaters in 2006, I was blown away. It’s such a fast-paced, ridiculous, crazy film that delivered everything promised. As a high-schooler, I couldn’t be any more pleased. When the sequel was announced, I wasn’t sure how much crazier it could be. I would have been pleased if it could somehow be on the same ridiculous level as Crank. And after seeing Crank 2: High Voltage, I think I understand being addicted to hard drugs is like. I was fine with my occasional Crank, but when I upped my dosage to the insane amount that High Voltage was, what I got out of Crank just wasn’t enough. Crank bores me now. I need High Voltage or nothing.

High Voltage borrows the same generic plot from the first film: Statham’s Chev Chelios (a hitman as well as the coolest name ever) is implanted with something deadly (this time, it’s an artificial heart whose shelf life is basically an hour without strenuous activity) and must keep himself alive to find the people who want him dead. Back again are Amy Smart and Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite.

What makes High Voltage work is the lack of two things: logic and morals. While yes, there is a scene in which the technical minutiae are described, it’s a joke. For a device which, without battery, can last for an hour without strenuous activity, it lasts for the whole movie (whose real-time aspect is not as pronounced as the first film’s). There’s superhumanly (more on that later) quick thinking, flashbacks to an old talk show which Chelios was on, and a Godzilla-esque fight scene in which a fake Chelios fights in a miniature power plant. This isn’t a hallucination, either; it actually happens. Logic also fails when instead of being immediately apprehended, Chelios and Smart’s Eve are cheered on during their love-making session on a racetrack.

All of these failures in plausibility (which is also mentioned self-referentially) mask something radical that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen in film before: a complete, utter, chaotic disrespect for any sort of morals. This isn’t about “family values” either – these are basic, assumed morals which everyone abides. Chelios is more than just a lovable dick – he really has no regard for anyone, including himself. He’s only hell-bent on revenge at any cost. He’ll murder anyone, rub up against anyone, and abandon anyone just for his revenge. There’s meaningless sex, violence, and inappropriate situations – it seems like this Los Angeles only exists to fuel these.

In fact, I’m not entirely convinced that this movie exists in our world. While this is Los Angeles and even Ron Jeremy has a cameo of himself, I feel like the Crank universe (or maybe the whole Neveldine/Taylor universe, I’ll have to see Gamer and that new Ghost Rider movie to find out for sure) is in an alternate reality. Chelios never dies, and perhaps he’s the messiah of this new dimension. Maybe he’s the actual God of this strange LA. Or something. Who knows what Neveldine/Taylor thought up? Its ridiculousness brings these thoughts to mind. Sure, this could just be a wacky film with its non-sequiturial action sequences, but I personally don’t think so. I think something larger’s at play, and Neveldine/Taylor’s in-control filmmaking makes me think I’m right. As frantic as the film is, it’s never slapdash or unplanned.

There’s another question at play here: why is this movie considered a “guilty pleasure”? It’s fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and everyone I know who has seen it loves it. Its consensus, however, is that it’s fun, action-packed, silly, and shouldn’t be taken seriously. I take it for a lot more than that. High Voltage marks what an action movie can be and should be. I don’t mean to say that I think it’s a serious film, but its implications for what can work in film with an assured hand is pretty fantastic. If people besides Neveldine/Taylor had made High Voltage, it would probably still be fun. It would be stupid (and I mean really, really stupid…like Tron: Legacy stupid), but fun. High Voltage is not stupid in any regard, and there are very few action movies that can be described as such.