It was OK, but the first one was much better IMO.
I can see how the sequel would be difficult. A good portion of the first one was gradually finding out all the details about the character and his operation. Now, we already know all of that so you can't rely on the slow reveal to keep things interesting.
I did laugh out loud in the bar scene when he said "My brother's not having a good time tonight, but now he will."
Very true observation, the reveal of the setup in the first one was a lot of the appeal. But, I knew what I was getting into with this one, and I did enjoy it, despite fewer surprises. I'd still recommend it, but I agree, one should not expect the reaction you had to #1, that's simply not possible.
I'm reminded of a review of Jason Statham's Working Man latest on IMDB, though. Viewer gave it a low score because, I'm paraphrasing, "HIs plots are all the same! Former military guy working a blue collar job, finds someone in distress or who has been wronged, and rains death and destruction down on the perpetrators."
My thought was, "Yeah, that's why I watch them. WTF were you expecting from a Jason Statham movie, you idiot?? Something different?"

Not directing that comment at you,
@rbbrock !! Just making an observation. A Jason Statham movie, while formulaic, is a lot of fun when I don't have anything else to watch and I want to watch JS rain death and destruction down on some bad guys. Kinda like the Equalizer series. Those are formulaic, but I LOVE them.
Anyway [/TLDR]