Photographs should be criticised on at least three points: technical, aesthetic, and cultural. Commercial work should certainly be evaluated in a different manner than personal images, but that doesn't mean that different criteria should apply, just how the various points are weighted. Sometimes it helps to know what the photographer had in mind, sometimes it's misleading.
In the long run, the only really important matter is "is it interesting?" with the caveat that what one person finds quite fascinating may be totally boring to another.