I really wasn't fond of this movie. And I actually liked the first SHT...
I dislike how they went back to the old formula of "other heroes suddenly appear for the final battle". It just makes no sense here. They talk about strange events happening throughout the universe, but everyone besides Wizard, Space Sheriffs, GokaiSilver and Go-Busters need to be called by Gai to notice that there's something weird going on and help? Crossovers seem fairly common nowadays, so I guess focusing so much on the main heroes from the movie, or current heroes of the franchises wasn't such a waste, since we might see again soon, but, even putting that aside, that part just didn't make much sense withing the movie itself. The first Super Hero Taisen seemed to be the first time where they were attempting to integrate the existence of various heroes through the movie, not only the main cast, this one completely threw that away, basically going back to the Let's Go Kamen Riders formula.
The selection of heroes also was rather random. Why did none of the heroes who helped Gavan and Beast get to the castle appear during the final battle itself, well, aside from the Shinkenger? And then those absent heroes are suddenly in the cliff after the battle...
The action also took a step back from the last movie to me. Only Wizard, Kyoryuger and Gokaiger (before the final battle, because there they weren't allowed to do anything) were allowed to do things like form changes or unique abilities. The movie also seemed fairly low budget at times too. The Kyoryugers were using stock footage straight out of their tv series several times (transformation, kendrospiker, kyoryuzin combination), rather than custom made CG).
When everyone appears in the final battle, there were no individual cuts with actual battle scenes, just generic punches and slashes. Now, in some cases those were performed in characteristic ways, but it still ends up fairly generic with no individual showcases. The firing sequence at the end had a bunch of heroes standing in the background doing nothing just because they weren't willing to use their alternate forms too. Coming from Wizard's finale, it's a big disappointment, but even the first Super Hero Taisen was better about it, considering how heroes who weren't plot relevant got their own scenes for the battle there. The only one who really gets one here is the Fourze and Inazuman team.
Wizard's treatment was weird, and it did leave a big hole in the movie in that there wasn't a single Rider protagonist as part of the main cast. The movie starts basically treating him as the main character for a while, and that goes through about 30% of the movie, but suddenly Gai and Gavan go to the Madou castle and Wizard disappears from the story, only to return in the beginning of the final battle with a random "I was waiting for this moment!" and dominate the movie from that point on. Beast generally hanged around when Wizard wasn't there, but he was clearly pushed to the background in comparison to GokaiSilver and Gavan.
Kyoryuger, Wizard and Space Sheriffs to a lesser extent completely take over the final battle. Someone like Gai, who was clearly a main character beforehand could do nothing there aside from getting beaten up. And obviously the past heroes got even less, with Rider 1 getting a Rider Kick, and that one scene with Fourze and Inazuman. At least, the first SHT had scenes for the other heroes alongside Fourze's and Go-Busters' space battle. Here, the parallel final battle just goes to Beast and KyoryuGold.
They also didn't even try to make minor excuses for the new weapons here. Wizard pulls two new rings out of nowhere like he always had them, and the Metal Hero keys also are thrown into the movie with no context at all. Seeing Shocker here again, and on top of that it only being a secondary threat was pretty bad too. Why even use Shocker here? They should have gone with Madou and the resurrected Sentai villains as antagonists, especially if the Riders' themselves would be so sidelined in this movie.
And then there's Gavan. They had Retsu's actor, and yet just used him as a superior officer rather than original Gavan? And the new Sharivan's first biggest role ends up being as someone who's willing to sacrifice an entire planet for the greater good... until he isn't?
I really hope the next movie has a different creative team... If there is a next movie after the low box office of this one, for a Rider feature (although, considering the lack of Riders in the main cast, even Wizard disappearing during 60% of the movie, maybe it shouldn't even be compared to Rider's movies).
