Cat burglar Karen McCoy (Kim Basinger) is released from prison after 6 years for the bank robbery. She's on parole with only the suit she went to court with. Her ex told her son Patrick that she's dead. Gary Buckner is her harsh parole officer. J.T. Barker (Val Kilmer) is an incompetent robber eager to be in her next job. She's trying to go straight but nobody is willing to hire an ex-con. J.T.'s relative Jack Schmidt (Terence Stamp) wants her to do one more job. Buckner threatens Karen with more prison unless she does the job. When she refuses, Patrick is kidnapped.The first half sets up for a solid caper movie. Everything is against Karen. She's the underdog with a heart of gold. The caper is functional. It's at least six years since Karen has done a job and she is still up to date with security tech. It's hard to imagine her ex holding off calling the cops. There are a few little things that add up to a less compelling caper movie.

'The Real McCoy' is a heist movie in which the heroine can work her way into and out of the most complicated of security devices but strangely enough can't seem to get out of a tired, predictable cliché-ridden script.It stars Kim Basinger as a burglar so good at her job that she has become famous as The Real McCoy. We meet her coming out of a six year prison term after being set up by Schmidt (Terence Stamp) one of those irritating movie villains who lives in a mansion and exists in the movie only to issue an ultimatum to the hero.Turns out that Schmidt was the one who set her up, after helping her to break into a bank and trapping her inside. He and her parole officer devise a little scheme to kidnap her son and hold him hostage until she pulls a major bank job for them. And yes, like countless career criminals in the movies, she wants to go straight.Here's where the movie loses me: The bank that Schmidt wants her to break into is the same bank that he trapped her in six years ago. Why did he go to the trouble of double-crossing her in the first place? Because the screenwriter doesn't think that the audience is smart enough to ask that question.The biggest disappointment to me is the bank vault itself, which is of course peanuts to this professional. I am always dazzled by overwrought security measures taken in the movies. Look at the 150+ floors and 9 security doors that Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones had to go through to get into the bank vault in 'Entrapment'. Or look at the security gates, the basement dwelling and the thick wall of plexiglass that held Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of the Lambs'. The vault in this movie by comparison is a big yawn.Oh, and Val Kilmer shows up to befriend Basinger mostly because the filmmakers don't trust her to be the sole hero in a caper movie. Everyone in this movie right down to the kidnapped son is a chess piece set in place and then used as ordered by the rules of caper movie conventions.

I watched this film last night on DVD. I was very surprised that this was actually quite good, due to the average IMDb rating it has received. Though not a classic, it is however a very competent Crime Caper. The story is not especially original and Terence Stamp's accent is not good, going between a Georgian (USA) accent and English Cockney accent. The opening is good and reminiscent of Mission Impossible though "The Real McCoy" was made three years earlier. Basinger's Character however has been set-up and is caught by Police. We then join Karen (The Real) McCoy (Kim Basinger) as she is leaving prison after serving a six year stretch, she is trying to go straight and just wants to see her son (In the film she has been in Athens Womens Correctional Facilty - Kim Basinger was actually born in the town of Athens, Georgia in real life). The relationship she has with her son is very realistic and touching as Karen values her son above everything else, now that she has served time. Her ex however has told her son that his mother is dead. Val Kilmer comes into the film as incompetent hold up artist J.T Barker, he attempts to hold up a Mini Mart but bungles the job. The ammo falls out of his gun and in one of the funny scenes in the film, he picks up the ammo only to be confronted by the Shopkeeper holding his own larger weapon. The shopkeeper asks "where do you want your new asshole". Kilmer has to hot foot it out of there and drive off quickly.JT Barker later runs into Karen McCoy noticing her as she leaves a meeting with her Parole Officer wondering who the gorgeous blonde is. When he finds out it emerges that he is a big fan of her work and asks about her previous jobs. Their relationship takes off later in the film after her son is captured and held by Villain Jack Schmidt (Terence Stamp). I will not go into much more detail in case I spoil it for you guys.I do however recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a Crime Caper. Please bear in mind this is not meant to be extremely intelligent or have Oscar winning performances. If you do not take the film 100% seriously and watch it for fun, it is good entertainment. It is slick, undemanding, enjoyable and the performances are good and believable (aside from Terence Stamp who is not quite ruthless enough and his accent is not quite right as I stated earlier) the set pieces are not outrageous but realistic and believable in the context of the film. It is also watchable as a family film as it is not violent and there is no sex scenes. 7/10

I'm just a hair or two from labeling the effort above average, though this movie can still supply sufficient entertainment. Were this film to be remade today it would not need much to attain the status of Above Average. I would however abstain from casting the lead with anyone with similar physical attributes as Ms.Basinger only because to date who robs banks and looks like that!! Very "clean" by todays standards for most genre. Terry Stamp plays the villain with just a tad less venom than IS required for his role, he fall short of making me hate him enough, and Val Kilmer does a superb job with portraying his character. All in all absolutely worth the 1 hour & 45 minutes.