“I just trusted the script,” Neeson told Variety. “And knew it would get better the more they worked on it. [Director Akiva Schaffer] was the co-writer but there was always another writer on set — a friend of Akiva’s, obviously — and they would supply alternate endings to scenes. ‘Try this, try that.'”

Once again, a police procedural serves as the movie’s framework, complete with shadow-forming Venetian blinds and hardboiled monologuing. This time, though, thanks to Nielsen’s flinty presence (and all those “Taken” thrillers),

The action star plays deadpan detective Frank Drebin Jr. in director Akiva Schaffer’s welcome sequel to the police-parody film franchise that began in 1988.