By now, I’m sure every one and their second cousin has seen Nolan’s much-awaited blockbuster: The Odyssey. Hence, I suspect that what I’m about to say will be an unpopular opinion. But I do think it is time somebody called it out.

Let me start with the obvious: technically, the film is quite extraordinary. The scale, cinematography, sound, locations, action and visual craft are all exceptional. Christopher Nolan remains one of the very few filmmakers who can make cinema feel like an event.

But filmmaking is not just engineering, and technical mastery cannot compensate for a lack of emotional or narrative depth. And that, in my view, is the problem with The Odyssey.

There is simply too much that is introduced, hinted at or assumed, without being adequately explored. Characters seem to appear with great significance, relationships are established but barely developed, motivations are often left unexplained, and entire plot lines seem to depend on the audience already being familiar with Homer’s work. A great film should not require a companion textbook, no?

What did ten years of war actually do to Odysseus? What did his choices cost him? What did the gods, monsters and endless trials actually represent beyond being spectacular obstacles? We get plenty of what happened, but I for one wanted much more of why it mattered. And don’t even get me started on the climax. After all that build-up, mythology and epic grandeur, we essentially get the cinematic equivalent of a Bollywood hero taking on 200 people single-handedly and winning. Really?!

If you’re wondering, epic storytelling can be done differently. For me, Game of Thrones represents the ultimate mega story, told well. Hundreds of key characters, multiple storylines running in multiple worlds, shifting loyalties and battles and betrayals and relationships — all presented with remarkable depth. You understood their motivations, their contradictions and, importantly, what their choices cost them. Scale does not have to come at the expense of character.

Sadly, this is not just about The Odyssey. Over the years, I’ve felt a growing sense of frustration with Nolan’s work.

Oppenheimer too left me disappointed. I went expecting to understand the man — his intellect, ambition, guilt, dilemmas and the real burden of creating something that could destroy all of humanity. Instead, I got a technically brilliant reconstruction of events, but not the deeper understanding of Oppenheimer I was hoping for.

And then there is Tenet. I know many consider it a masterpiece. Frankly, I found it to be an utter disaster. I have watched it more than once, and still couldn’t tell what the film is actually trying to say.

These are particularly telling examples because my personal Top 10 films have an unusual number of Nolan’s movies in it. The fact that Nolan is at the top of his game today, after decades spent honing his unique craft, and has access to world-class cast and crew for any project he undertakes, only makes it worse.

Which is why I think this warrants saying: Perhaps Nolan has become a little too indulgent. Yes, he has earned himself the right to make ambitious, complex, technically audacious films. But somewhere along the way, the complexity itself seems to have become the point.

No, I don’t want less ambition from Nolan, but I do want more humanity. Call me old fashioned but, beneath all the technical mastery and the spectacle, there still needs to be a story that makes us feel something. Heck, I have found 50+ year old classics like Ben Hur and Sholay more engaging and rewarding.

Sadly, The Odyssey gave me a lot to look at, but not much more. All that ocean… Hardly any depth.