Jeff of We Got This Covered wrote, "The best way to describe John Hillcoat’s Lawless is as a story waiting to happen. It’s a curious experience, and a strange way to characterize it, but after giving the film a viewing, it becomes clear as to what this means. It has all the elements to tell an interesting tale about bootleggers struggling with the law, but for some odd reason, the film is structured in such a way that it merely prowls around the idea for almost the entire duration of its runtime." (Blu-ray, Lawless) 60/100