It's a lazy comparison.
Atomic Blonde for all its insistence on visceral violence that leaves its scars is a comic book movie. Its "realistic" portrayal of people getting hurt means having the actors wince a lot, but ultimately being as indestructible as in any James Bond film.
Red Sparrow is not a comic book film. It's still an unrealistic twisty-turny thriller, but for sheer gut impact it's a far superior piece of work.
I don't know if I liked the film, but I did admire the craft that went into it. In terms of knowing where the plot was going, it kept me guessing between the possibilities that Jennifer Lawrence's character was a double agent or a triple agent. It delivered a character who when presented with two options would keep picking a third one, and as a result managed to keep surprising me throughout. And it delivered one of the most painful looking moments in recent cinema history - I think I audibly gasped at this moment.
There's also the debate over whether the film is sexually exploitative or sexually liberating. After all the lead character is taught to use sex as a weapon, there's a "voluntary" rape scene (it's a little more complicated than calling it one or the other - both people are in the wrong - the man far more so), but these are not treated as being good - so are they exploitative and likely to set back the feminist cause, or are they deliberately provocative and worth discussing? Or will not enough people see the film to actually care?
Ultimately, I think it's a film that will alienate too much of its potential audience to be a huge success.
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