I think the 7.5 average is about right. For all that I love about the historical topic, costumes, witty bits in the script (especially all Boss Tweed scenes) and acting from DDL, there were just a few things that felt very off preventing this from being a great film of the 2000s.
The entire Jenny plot feels like a waste. The opening scenes with the father almost feel like Sci-Fi and take the realism out of a critical American history topic. The first half has a tremendous amount of build up for mostly uninteresting characters (and constant detail about gangs irrelevant to the plot) just to fulfill a centuries old trope and could have been sliced by 30 minutes to enhance the final product. The second half was good enough to help it overcome those flaws, but it requires a lot of patience, and I must note that the final showdown requires no great valor from these cowardly characters - ultimately a bit unfulfilling. The action afterward that showdown does do a good job of driving home a message though.
The entire Jenny plot feels like a waste. The opening scenes with the father almost feel like Sci-Fi and take the realism out of a critical American history topic. The first half has a tremendous amount of build up for mostly uninteresting characters (and constant detail about gangs irrelevant to the plot) just to fulfill a centuries old trope and could have been sliced by 30 minutes to enhance the final product. The second half was good enough to help it overcome those flaws, but it requires a lot of patience, and I must note that the final showdown requires no great valor from these cowardly characters - ultimately a bit unfulfilling. The action afterward that showdown does do a good job of driving home a message though.