So is this movie a worthy sequel?

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2007)

I was a huge fan of the first movie, it was perfect. When I heard about this sequel I felt a hugely disappointedly, when I found out it was about yanks coming over to "save the day" I was horrified. I knew in my bones that this would be some cheesy Hollywood action movie with no plot and no grasp of what made the original amazing.
When I got hold of a DVD screener I was very, very tempted to not watch it. But against everything I believe in I watched it.
The beginning was great, I was very impressed but feared it wouldn't last, and it would be just an intro to tie in the old movie with this American version.
After a while, when I realised the intro I was enjoying - that had totally stolen my attention - was in fact the movie, I didn't know how to feel, I had been thinking how bad it would be for years and now sitting here enjoying it, and not just enjoying a cheesy Hollywood version of the original, but an amazing sequel that felt extremely like the first movie.
What is great about this movie, is it's almost as though they knew I was going into this movie with certain preconceived ideas of how this movie would be, so they basically give you nothing like you expect, totally immersing you and causing you to feel that the original movie was part 1 of this movie. Then they give you a slice of American cheesiness, causing you to suddenly remember and worry that it might go downhill. But then they turn everything upside down and dazzle you until the end.
I totally recommend this movie, without a doubt, and I even encourage you to watch it with fear and expectation of it being another lame Hollywood wannabe, because that's how I felt, and it worked for me.