History Film / Hostiles

* AnyoneCanDie: By the end of the film, [[spoiler: the majority of the cast has died. Private DeJardin is killed fairly early on by the Comanche. Wills kills Lieutenant Kidder in an escape bid. Metz kills himself after he tracked down and killed Wills. Yellow Hawk succumbs to his cancer, shortly thereafter his son Black Hawk and his son's wife Elk Woman are killed. Only Blocker, Rosalee and Little Bear (Yellow Hawk's grandson) are alive by the film's end.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: By the end of the film, [[spoiler: the majority of the cast has died. Private Desjardins is killed fairly early on by the Comanche. Wills kills Lieutenant Kidder in an escape bid. Metz kills himself after he tracked down and killed Wills. Yellow Hawk succumbs to his cancer, shortly thereafter his son Black Hawk and his son's wife Elk Woman are killed. Only Blocker, Rosalee and Little Bear (Yellow Hawk's grandson) are alive by the film's end.]]

** Averted at the beginning. Rosalee's two daughters are killed while trying to flee to safety. It initially appears that Rosalee made it to safety with her baby, but soon becomes apparent that the baby is dead in her arms.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The final battle on the tribal lands, which leaves everybody but three characters dead.]]

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Nobody really talks about [[spoiler: Private DeJardin]] after his death at the hands of the Comanche. Granted, he didn't interact much with others characters prior to his death, but it's somewhat disheartening that no one really mourns him.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Nobody really talks about [[spoiler: Private Desjardins]] after his death at the hands of the Comanche. Granted, he didn't interact much with others characters prior to his death, but it's somewhat disheartening that no one really mourns him.

* AdultFear: Rosalee's family is killed right in front of her, and she's helpless to do anything about it. Her own baby is shot while crying in her arms.

* NotSoDifferent:
** The entire film is a realistic portrayal of American-Indian relations at the time, showing both inhumane brutality and warm compassion on both sides of the issue. Wills, who butchered a family in cold blood, believes that he hasn't done anything different from Blocker or Yellow Hawk.
** This trope perhaps applies best to the relationship between Blocker and Yellow Hawk. Both men have done horrific things in the name of survival and revenge. They're both commanders who have gotten their hands dirty yet care for their loved ones.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Played straight with Little Bear, who's a child and the only surviving Cheyenne member of the party.]]

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The film completely avoids the subject of racism toward African-Americans. The film portrays an army detachment with a black corporal whose race is never directly addressed. None of the white soldiers bat an eyelash at serving with or taking orders from a black man. While "buffalo soldiers" did serve in the Indian Wars, they were always in segregated units. The United Stated military did not begin desegregation until ''1948''. Rosalie also has no reaction to a black man presiding over the funeral of her family

It tells the story of a legendary, hardened army captain named Joe Blocker (Creator/ChristianBale) tasked with [[EscortMission escorting]] a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Along the way, they're joined by Rosalee (Creator/RosamundPike), a woman who lost her family in a devastating Comanche attack. Blocker is less than enthralled about taking care of a man who was responsible for the deaths of many of his own men in the past, but the harsh circumstances the party faces press them to join forces in order to survive the many challenges along the way.

** Blocker gains two men to assist in escorting Wills, though [[RedShirt neither gets any real development]] and Malloy is unceremoniously killed off during a rescue mission.

* NotSoDifferent: The entire film is a realistic portrayal of American-Indian relations at the time, showing both inhumane brutality and warm compassion on both sides of the issue. Wills, who butchered a family in cold blood, believes that he hasn't done anything differently from Blocker or Yellow Hawk.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The film completely avoids the subject of racism toward African Americans. The film portrays an army detachment with a black corporal whose race is never directly addressed. None of the white soldiers bat an eyelash at serving with or taking orders from a black man. While "buffalo soldiers" did serve in the Indian Wars, they were always in segregated units. The United Stated military did not begin desegregation until ''1948''. Rosalie also has no reaction to a black man presiding over the funeral of her family
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Blocker loathes Yellow Hawk and his family and almost refuses to escort them, but treats them more or less fairly when they're in his care.

* FireForgedFriends: Block and Yellow Hawk are bitter enemies in the beginning, but must ally with each other and ultimate come to mutual respect and admiration for each other.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Wills tricks Kidder into sympathetically loosen his chains during a downpour before murdering him and taking off.]]

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The film completely avoids the subject of racism toward African Americans. The film portrays an army detachment with a black corporal whose race is never directly addressed. None of the white soldiers bat an eyelash at serving with or taking orders from a black man. While "buffalo soldiers" did serve in the Indian Wars, they were always in segregated units. The United Stated military did not begin desegregation until 1948. Rosalie also has no reaction to a black man presiding over the funeral of her family

Set in 1892, ''Hostiles'' (2017) tells the story of a legendary, hardened army captain named Joe Blocker (Creator/ChristianBale) tasked with [[EscortMission escorting]] a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Along the way, they're joined by Rosalee (Creator/RosamundPike), a woman who lost her family in a devastating Comanche attack. Blocker is less than enthralled about taking care of a man who was responsible for the deaths of many of his own men in the past, but the harsh circumstances the party faces press them to join forces in order to survive the many challenges along the way.

A grim, bleak portrait of life on the plains, the film was praised for its acting, especially from Bale and Pike. Despite mostly positive critic and audience reviews, it ended up lacking commercially and failed to make back its budget.

Set in 1892, ''Hostiles'' (2017) tells the story of a legendary, hardened army captain named Joe Blocker (Creator/ChristianBale) tasked with [[EscortMission escorting]] a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Along the way, they're joined by Rosalee (Creator/RosamundPike), a woman who lost her family in a devastating Comanche attack. Blocker is less than enthralled about taking care of a man who was responsible for the deaths of many of his own men in the past, but the harsh circumstances the party faces presses them to join forces in order to survive the many challenges along the way.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The film ends with pretty much every character dead, and Rosalee and Little Bear en route to Chicago. Blocker is about to go his own way, but changes his mind at the last minute and joins them.]]
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted. Woodson is critically injured, but survives and is left behind to convalesce. [[spoiler:He's one of the only members of the escort party to survive.]]

* EnemyMine: Yellow Hawk points out that the Comanche kill indiscriminately, and it'd be wiser for Blocker to unchain him and his family so that they can help fight them. Blocker reluctantly does after witnessing Yellow Hawk's family in combat, after which Yellow Hawk and his family promptly hunts down and kills what's left of the Comanche outfit.

* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard'' with Rosalee's family; her daughters are shot down right before her eyes, and her infant son is killed while he's in her arms. [[spoiler:Played straight with Little Bear, who's a child and the only surviving Cheyenne member of the party.]]

* NotSoDifferent: The entire film is a realistic portrayal of American-Indian relations at the time, showing both inhumane brutality and warm compassion on both sides of the issue.
** Wills, who butchered a family in cold blood, believes that he hasn't done anything differently from Blocker or Yellow Hawk.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: [=DeJardin=], the youngest of the party and the only foreigner (played by Creator/TimotheeChalamet during his meteoric rise) was originally billed highly and was expected to play a bigger role. Instead, he's the first to die, gunned down quickly and anticlimactically during the Comanche's attack.
** Blocker gains two men to assist in escorting Wills, though neither gets any real development and Malloy is unceremoniously killed off during a rescue mission.

Set in 1892, ''Hostiles'' (2017) tells the story of a legendary, hardened army captain named Joe Blocker (Creator/ChristianBale) tasked with escorting a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Along the way, they're joined by Rosalee (Creator/RosamundPike), a woman who lost her family in a devastating Comanche attack. Blocker is less than enthralled about taking care of a man who was responsible for the deaths of many of his own men in the past, but the harsh circumstances the party faces presses them to join forces in order to survive the many challenges along the way.