It's quite good for what it is. What it is, is your standard Hollywood action/thriller flick. It's well-acted, a lot happens, there's the required flurry of f-bombs and your standard Hollywood star scene occurs at the end. However, the sense of place you had in the original -- the "New Yorkness" of it all -- just isn't there.
The remake could just as easily be any city that has a subway system -- Philadelphia, Montreal, Chicago, you name it. If Des Moines has a subway, this could be Des Moines. "Pelham" is supposedly New York, but no one save James Gandolfini from time to time acts like it.
Like I said, it's standard homogenized Hollywood, although a good example of standard homogenized Hollywood. It's just not New York.