History Film / TheSalvation

* TheGunfighterWannabe: The young ShopKeeper wants revenge and claims that he can shoot well, but he doesn't know much about fighting.

Jon (Mikkelsen) is a Danish soldier who fled with his brother, Peter (Mikael Persbrandt), to the Wild West [[UsefulNotes/DanesWithDrakens in the wake of a German-Danish war]]. Having built a farm for himself, he has his wife and young son migrate over seven years later and [[RuleOfDrama all looks suspiciously tranquil]]. Hopping a stagecoach to their farm, Jon is helpless to watch as the thugs they share it with molest his wife while holding his son at knifepoint. Thrown out of the carriage, Jon soon catches up to find they've killed the drivers [[WouldHurtAChild and his son]], then [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped and killed]] his wife; Jon brutally guns down the men in retaliation.

''The Salvation'' is a 2014 film starring Creator/MadsMikkelsen and Creator/EvaGreen. It is at once a send up of classic western tropes and a fresh take on them. As such, it is naturally troperiffic. Like many westerns, this is a movie with a serious body count.

In the nearby town, local thug Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) visits the bodies of the thugs, one of which is his own brother. Seeing a genuine act of revenge [[PoorCommunicationKills as an attack on his gang]] that left his sister-in-law (Eva Green) widowed, he starts up a CycleOfRevenge to "avenge" his brother's murder, using his protection racket to keep the local town under his thumb. Of course, it's not too long [[FinaglesLaw before Jon has to ride back into that very same town...]]

* TheSpeechless: CuteMute Madelaine. She was subject to horrific torture by first Indian raiders who cut her tongue out, and then Delarue and his brother.

* RapeIsASpecialKindofEvil: Both of the Delarue brothers. You know, in case we forgot they were evil.

* ChainedToABed: Madeleine is kept tied to one so the gang can rape her before she's killed, per Delarue's orders. Thankfully, Jon kills the men who guarded Madeleine and she's freed (helping to finish some off) before.

* RapeAndRevenge: Basically the entirety of Princess's arc is dedicated to waiting for the right moment to enact her revenge. However, she is a bit more pragmatic, choosing to run away with the money while Delarue is absent instead of trying to kill him.

Jon (Mikkelsen) is a Danish soldier who fled with his brother, Peter (Mikael Persbrandt), to the Wild West [[UsefulNotes/DanesWithDrakens in the wake of a German-Danish war]]. Having built a farm for himself, he has his wife and young son migrate over seven years later and [[RuleOfDrama all looks suspiciously tranquil]]. Hopping a stagecoach to their farm, Jon is helpless to watch as the thugs they share it with molest his wife and while holding his son at knifepoint. Thrown out of the carriage, Jon soon catches up to find they've killed the drivers [[WouldHurtAChild and his son]], then [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped and killed]] his wife; Jon brutally guns down the men in retaliation.

* AnyoneCanDie: Yeah, it's one of ''[[CrapsackWorld those]]'' Westerns. By the end, [[spoiler:only Jon and Madelaine are the only main characters who haven't fled or died, which only really leaves the Sheriff's unnamed team as non-background characters left.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Jon is advised to hide his cash in his boots by the Mayor, who promptly steals the boots back when Delarue gets hold of him. [[spoiler:This helps Jon figure out that the Mayor is not only a money-grubbing coward, but leads to him learning he's giving the lanfd he buys straight over to him.]]

** The Hispanic couple who were kicked off of the coach show up in town and identify Jon.

* CorruptPolitician: Mayor and Undertaker Keane. [[spoiler:He is secretly working with Delarue, helping him driving people out of their land.]]

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Delarue's motive is ultimately [[spoiler: driving off all the townspeople and sell the land to an oil company]]. Not that he doesn't enjoy hurting people in the process.
* Outlaw: Delarue's gang. A somewhat interesting point is that they are not shown robbing anyone; instead, they only intimidate people to squeeze protection money out of them.

* RageBreakingPoint: Peter is locked up with a Deputy he previously beat up really badly (breaking his jaw, giving him a swollen eye). Peter repeatedly taunts the Marshall until the poor guy loses his cool and gets closer, which is exactly what he is waiting for.

* RetiredGunfighter: Jon and his brother are both former soldiers who now want to live a quiet life in America.

* TheSpeechless: CuteMute Madelaine. She was subject to horrific torture by first Indian raiders, and then Delarue and his brother.

* WhatADrag: Happened to [[spoiler:Peter]], and Jon gets to see it too.
* YourMom: The insult Peter uses to push the Marshall he beat up beyond the RageBreakingPoint.

* TheDeterminator: Characters take a hell of a lot of punishment and still get back up. Special props to Jon, who manages to walk back to civilization after being hung to die from exposure, while barefoot.
* DirtyCoward: The Sheriff kowtows to pretty much everything Delarue wants.

* WesternCharacters: There are some crossings of classic archetypes. For example, Jon is a RetiredGunfighter and proceeds to become TheDrifter afterwards.

* SpaghettiWestern: The director clearly has done his movie watching in the classic western staples. Even down to filming in an old world location instead of in the actual American West (the film was shot in South Africa, although the scenery remains gorgeous).

* AxCrazy: Delarue is so bloody-minded that his oil tycoon bosses warn him that he's being way too brazen in his methods.

* AxCrazy: Pick a character not related to Jon. Chances are, if they aren't the sheriff or the mayor, then they are certifiably axe crazy. Special mention goes to Delarue and his gang, who wantonly kill civilians and behave with eerie, nearly cartoonish levels of villainy.

* ChekhovsGun:
** Jon is advised to hide his cash in his boots by the Mayor, who promptly steals the boots back when Delarue gets hold of him. [[spoiler:This helps Jon figure out that the Mayor is not only a money-grubbing coward, but leads to him learning he's giving the lanfd he buys straight over to him.]]
** [[spoiler:The oil shown bubbling from the land, the later noted as damaging the water wells, and the burnt out neighboring town that the gang inhabits all hints to their motives: Delarue and his gang want to drive out the townspeople legally, all so they can tear down the town and build a legitimate oil refinery on the land and make a fortune.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: The two townspeople, the shopkeeper and the housewife, both inevitably turn on Delarue when he murders their loved ones.
** The housewife has her husband executed because the leglessless drunk and old lady Delarue is given is deemed insulting by him. [[spoiler:She later saves Jon from dehydration and lets him hide in her abandoned house when he won't leave with her, and leads Jon to learn Delarue and the Mayor are buying up all the property for the oil underneath it.]]
** The shopkeeper watches as his grandmother gives her life so a younger person need not die. [[spoiler:This drives him to arm Jon and later assist him assaulting Delarue's gang, during which he dies taking out the henchmen.]]

* CycleOfRevenge: Central to the plot. Jon kills Delarue's brother and his henchman for murdering his son and raping and murdering his wife. Delarue murders a group of townspeople and beats Jon within an inch of his life for killing his brother. [[spoiler:Delarue murders Peter when he fails to kill Jon. Jon murders Delarue's gang in a final act of revenge, followed by executing Delarue himself.]]
* DeathIsDramatic: Big aversion. All the deaths are quite the opposite of dramatic.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Delarue's ''only'' redeeming quality is his love for his brother.

* TheGunslinger: Natch for this setting. However, it averts the classic QuickDraw trope, as most combat is either brutally up close and personal (Jon's brother manages to somehow land a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on a deputy from INSIDE his jail cell) or from a great distance with repeating rifles or pistols.
** RetiredGunfighter: Jon, who is a former soldier.
** TheGunfighterWannabe: The young ShopKeeper.

* MeaningfulName: The poor guy's name is Joe Noleg. Guess what he looks like?

* RapeIsASpecialKindofEvil: Both of the Delarue brothers. You know, in case we forgot they were evil. Verges into KickTheDog territory.

* TheSheriff: Sheriff Mallick. His only role in the whole movie is [[spoiler:capturing Jon and handing him over to Delarue.]]

-->'''Peter''': I bet your whore mother sounded like a mule when you were conceived.