As my son tells me, this one began as a shoot em up/blow em up, had shoot em up/blow em up in the middle, and ended as a shoot em up/blow em up. The movie didn't have to spend all the time developing characters that the first one did, so it jumped right into the thick of things. You are at a definite disadvantage if you haven't seen the first movie. There were a couple of surprises to keep you on your toes, not entirely predictable, including the death of. . .oops, don't want to give anything away. I liked it better than the first one, and look forward to a third if it is this quality.
Liam Neeson has been one of my favorite actors for a long time and he didn't disappoint here! Great role for him, aloof, but you always knew he would get his man. The movie was fairly predictable, but it had some great action scenes, and several places where the detail was especially noteworthy. I wondered why he didn't get more help from his friends, and I liked the scene where he found the bad guy from the phone that said "good luck". I would definitely recommend this movie!