Some critics were disappointed with the film, with one review on CinemaBlend feeling it was overly violent with few characters worth caring about. Norman Berdichevsky of the "New English Review" wrote in a negative critique that some locals in Spain who had watched "Gangs of New York" had several anti-American beliefs "confirmed" afterwards, which he felt was due to the film's gratuitous violence, historical inaccuracies, and general depiction of American society "in the worst possible light". Others felt it tried to tackle too many themes without saying anything unique about them, and that the overall story was weak.