But imo, the really high quality of Nolan's visual directing does so much work distracting people from how lacking the movie is in actual substance.

Kind of describes most of Nolan's movies really. As a technical director, he's almost unparalleled, but his movies have often struggled to find a meaningful emotional core. They're all polish, but often lacking in substance. Tenet was especially bad for this. An absolute masterpiece of directorial craftsmanship, but almost entirely devoid of basic elements like characters.

He's made some absolute gems - The Dark Knight still holds up, Memento deserves its reputation, and The Prestige is a masterpiece - but I find that for the most part he seems more interested in technical flexes than in the actual story he's telling. I've enjoyed every single one of his movies, don't get me wrong, but they don't stick with me the way that something like Prisoners or Only God Forgives does.