History Film / RedHill

* TokenGoodCop: [[spoiler:Shane is a rookie cop whose FirstDayFromHell involves helping his rougher superiors combat Jimmy, a vengeful escaped convict. Shane ends up trying to arrest [[SmallTownTyrant his own boss]] (the others are already dead) after learning that he, his older deputies, and some friends provoked the convict's wrath by killing his wife and framing him for it.]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: The flashback [[spoiler: to the rape and murder of Jimmy's wife]] seem to show only nine men, However (not counting Shane) there are [[spoiler: twelve]] men in Old Bill's posse- including the late-arriving [[spoiler: Carlin brothers]] and the clearly-involved [[spoiler: Gleason]]. Counting down [[spoiler: Old Bill, Manning and the Carlin’s are unambiguously stated to be guilty and unrepentant in the final showdown. Gleason’s suicide shows his guilt, and Rex says that he’s going to hell after being shot by Jimmy. The brutality Jimmy spends killing Slim, Ken and Ted implies a personal beef with them. Slim and Ted, with their businesses that would have boomed if the railroad deal went through, both would have had motives to take part in Old Bill's revenge attack on the Conway's. Slim may have only died because he called Jimmy a black bastard and tried to take advantage of a moment of hesitation on Jimmy's part though. When Jimmy enters Ted's bar, he mostly ignores Ted, until Ted tries to shoot him, although he may have just been doing that to draw out the terror. Earl shot in a split-second moment trying to ambush Jimmy under what he could have viewed as legitimate circumstances and there’s no sign of anything personal between them. The fact that Willy is shot when Old Bill, Dale and Manning were also targets could mean that Jimmy had some enmity towards him, but perhaps Jimmy simply couldn't tell who he was from the distance he made that shot. Dale does ride out for the final fight with Old Bill and Manning (his reaction to Shane’s suspicions for Old Bill’s story are also ambiguous) but that could just be out of confused desperation or to avenge the friends he'd lost to Jimmy, and Jimmy doesn’t let him know it’s coming before killing him, unlike Manning. Barlow largely seems like a NiceGuy, but when he's wounded and being carried by Shane he babbles about how Jimmy is going to kill them all, although that may have just been ordinary panic after seeing Jimmy sadistically kill Ken while Barlow was PlayingPossum. It's also unclear if Jimmy deliberately shot Barlow in a way that would cause a protracted death, or if Barlow's death or survival didn't mean anything to him.]]

* FirstDayFromHell: Constable Shane Cooper arrives for his first day of work at his new posting in Red Hill. He is hoping for peace and quiet. Instead his first day coincides with a killer breaking jail and returning to Red Hill on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* GenreSavvy: Rex points out that Jimmy might take the least ideal road into town just because he knows Old Bill wouldn't expect him to take it. Old Bill gives this enough consideration to post Shane on that road. Turns out Rex was right. [[spoiler: He also seems to be the only one besides Gleason to realize and accept what they did to Jimmy was wrong and that their the villains of the story, as his last words are that he's going to hell]].

* CorruptHick: Old Bill is the local police inspector, and he dispenses justice if, when and how he sees fit. He also has distinct ideas of what the future of the town should be, and reacts harshly to any critics of his vision.

** Shane Cooper gets this as well: We see him getting ready for his first day as a police officer in Red Hill, and he's unable to find his gun due to having just moved in the night before. Before he leaves, he goes to check on his wife (who is pregnant) to make sure she's okay, they share a tender moment, and Shane opts to walk into town in case his wife needs the car. Later on, we find out that Shane's reasons for moving to Red Hill was for his wife's peace-of-mind, and that beforehand when he was working in the city, he had refused to fire on an armed kid (who was implied to be high out of his mind) because Shane wanted to help him, which resulted in Shane getting shot by the kid. This establishes a few things about his character: 1.) He's a genuinely NiceGuy who tries to look out for others and cares for his wife since it's for her benefit that he moved to Red Hill, 2.) Despite trying to be a good cop, he is out of his depth and unprepared for the danger that's about to come to the town, and 3.) He's reluctant to kill with a gun and will try to find a peaceful way to resolve the situation, which adverts the TriggerHappy trope that's commonly associated with cops.

* FrameUp: The film's twist

** Shane Cooper gets this as well: We see him getting ready for his first day as a police officer in Red Hill, and he's unable to find his gun due to having just moved in the night before. Before he leaves, he goes to check on his wife (who is pregnant) to make sure she's okay, they share a tender moment, and Shane opts to walk into town in case his wife needs the car. Later on, we find out that Shane's reasons for moving to Red Hill was for his wife's peace-of-mind, and that beforehand when he was working in the city, he had refused to fire on an armed kid who was implied to be high out of his mind because Shane wanted to help him, which resulted in Shane getting shot by the kid. This establishes a few things about his character: 1.) He's a genuinely NiceGuy who tries to look out for others and cares for his wife since it's for her benefit that he moved to Red Hill, 2.) Despite trying to be a good cop, he is out of his depth and unprepared for the danger that's about to come to the town, and 3.) He's reluctant to kill with a gun and will try to find a peaceful way to resolve the situation, which adverts the TriggerHappy trope that's commonly associated with cops.