The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jonathan Pryce, Eric Cantona, Mikael Persbrandt, Douglas Henshall and Michael Raymond-James.

After burying his wife and son, Jon decides to leave the town with Peter and sells his land to Keane, Black Creek's mayor and undertaker.

As Jon sits in his cell, Mallick tells him that his death will buy the town more time while he tries to inform higher authorities of Delarue's actions.

Delarue's now widowed sister-in-law Madelaine, who is mute, acts as his accountant and suffers sexual and physical abuse from him.

Realizing Jon is too weak to carry on, Peter conceals him and leads the gang away, and is eventually caught and killed.

At the general store, he arms himself and reluctantly accepts the help of Voichek, the young storekeeper whose grandmother was killed by Delarue.

The site's critical consensus reads, "It's all but impossible to add anything new or fresh to the traditional Western, but – thanks in no small part to Mads Mikkelsen's performance – The Salvation comes close.

[8] In The Observer, Jonathan Romney found that the film "tips its Stetson to John Ford and Sergio Leone with bold widescreen visuals – daytime shots in which even the sun looks sunbaked, prairie nightscapes resembling ink-soaked denim", but added "it never transcends reverent pastiche, down to the hackneyed sounds of Morricone-style guitars".

Romney concluded, "Best reason to see The Salvation: its chief varmint, played with ornery glint and bristling whiskers by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who has the sleepy-eyed malignity of vintage western heavy Jack Elam".