In the library, Wick opens Alexander Afanasyev's book to the Russian folktale of Vasilisa the Beautiful, a clear reference to his epithet: the Baba Yaga. The real beauty and brilliance of the script is the cunningly subtle incorporation of various allusions that necessitate multiple viewings - a masterly crafted display of intertextuality. In this third installment of the phenomenally excellent franchise, audiences are not only traveling with Wick in search of forgiveness from the Elder, but we also join in his trek for redemption, of salvation from the ghosts of his past haunting his desire to mourn his wife. As with its two predecessors, this sequel broadens the mythology of John Wick, his genesis and gives some backstory to a legend that even killers like Zero (Mark Dacascos) can't help but act the fanboy, and it does so creatively through a short tour of the aforementioned theater. Their conversation works effectively well in conjunction with a previous back and forth with the Director (Angelica Huston) of a Russian ballet theater and whose name obviously carries a double meaning.
However, the importance of their exchange extends beyond that as the frenemies discuss Sofia's marker - a debt owed to Wick - and briefly touch on a past event, further expanding on this one-time lethal and cold-hearted killing machine whose name alone demands respect and strikes fear in others. This being the central theme of Chapter 3 is brought up later with more blatant emphasis when Wick reunites with a former associate now turned manager of the Casablanca Continental Hotel, Sofia (a wonderful Halle Berry).
In the case of the legendary retired assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves), the killing of Santino D'Antonio brought the unwanted attention of an Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon), putting the manager of the New York Continental Hotel (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) at risk of losing their positions within the criminal underworld. The choices we make in our lives come with repercussions, be they positive or negative, that could potentially affect others around us.
The seemingly undemanding and straightforward plot of a ronin warrior without direction or purpose except to remain alive is, in fact, permeated in a complicated theme about confronting the consequences of one's decisions. Picking up a few minutes where Chapter 2 left off, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum sees our titular antihero hitman running through the streets of New York City desperately searching for a way out, both literally from the $14 million bounty on his head and figuratively from the chaos he created.
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