Best movie ever!

A Masterpiece!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer make an attractive couple in "Highlander" director Russell Mulcady's "The Real McCoy," but this miscast couple kindles little chemistry. "Johnny English" scenarists William Osborne and William Davies drew their inspiration for this lackluster Universal Pictures release from the Desmond Lowden novel "Bellman and True." The conflict is that the greedy, despicable villain kidnaps a professional criminal's son and forces her to rob a bank before they turn him loose. The haul is an $18 million plus payday, and a well-heeled Atlanta criminal bankrolls the endeavor. Meanwhile, our heroine—fresh out of prison after serving 6 years of a 10 year sentence—struggles to go straight, but she is swept back into the storm. Karen McCoy (Kim Basinger of Never Say Never Again") was also married. After she leaves the Athens Correctional Facility, she learns that her worthless ex-husband, Radly (Alex Van) has told her son that she is dead. Radly informs Karen that he burned all the letters that she sent to her son Patrick. During a convenience store stick-up during a rainy night, Karen encounters a bumbling criminal, J.T. Barker (Val Kilmer of "Batman Forever"), whose pistol falls apart at the scene of the crime. Later, J.T. informs his distant (Terence Stamp) relative about her. J.T.'s relative is none other than Jack Schmidt; he is the same guy who used Karen on a previous job. Karen blew that hold-up at the Atlanta Union Bank and she received a 10 year sentence. Karen wins parole but has the ill luck to land a corrupt parole supervisor, Gary Buckner (Gailard Sartain), who takes her to see Schmidt.This is another one of those impossible crime capers that Mulcady imbues will reasonable suspense and tension. The protagonists have to find a way to break in and escape despite the precautions that the bank has put in place to thwart criminals. What is different here is that our heroine remotely triggers the alarms repeatedly to wear out the security guards and the Atlanta police. Eventually, the authorities decide that nobody is trying to hold up the facility. Instead, they figure that a flaw in the system activates the alarm so they give it. This is a neat example of the man who cried 'wolf' scenario. At the same time, the filmmakers devise a way for the heroine to succeed without pulling off the robbery because she is supposed to be sympathetic. In other words, "The Real McCoy" succeeds as an incredible caper movie but the heroines don't make society suffer. The chief surprise occurs when our heroine turns the tables on her adversaries. Mulcady and his scribes make the villains look thoroughly reprehensible, particularly Gailard Sartain. The last minute scene on the airport runaway gets pretty tense. Terence Stamp makes a grim criminal. Basinger defends herself well enough, especially when she knees a thug in the groin and disarms him. Furthermore, Basinger isn't required to disrobe. Val Kilmer has his stupid act down pat. Mind you, Mulcady never lets thing dawdle. The scenes in the bank as the cops find themselves being summoned for one more time are amusing. The best thing about "The Real McCoy" is that the heroine and her son gets away. Meantime, she exacts revenge on Jack and his evil cronies."The Real McCoy" is formulaic material presented with a modicum of style. Basinger looks beautiful in every outfit that she dons.

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

This is the sort of movie that will do if nothing else is on, but don't expect too much of it. I guess there is only one good reason to watch it and that is Kim Basinger. I really can't come up with something better.This is a typical Hollywood bank robbery movie. Nothing wrong with that when it is done right, but The Real McCoy never gets above the average in the genre. The characters as well as the script are average and very shallow. You never get rid of the feeling that you know what is going to happen ... only to see a few minutes later that your feeling didn't betray you.The bank robbery is perhaps the biggest disappointment. It's unbelievable how these top criminals always seem to know how to avoid every security system thanks to all the gadgets they use (they would make James Bond blush like a little school girl). And then of course we still have the security guards that look like a bunch of idiots that just want to be fooled. Spice this up with a love story that never really takes off and a lot of emotions about a little boy and you know what kind of movie this is.I just wasn't thrilled after seeing it. I reward it with a 5/10. It just isn't worth more. Too bad.

This is the sort of film that will do if nothing else is on but not much else. Its a heist film with Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer and everything in it has been done before and done better. The bank robbery at the end is a bit of a let down because it just seems too easy. It was directed by the man who brought us the fabulous Highlander, but sadly also the truly awful Highlander 2, this film is somewhere in between. The only plus points are the always great to look at Kim Basinger, and Val Kilmer in a different sort of role to his usual stuff. I think Kim Basinger is a great actress but like most females in Hollywood seems to struggle to get decent films to star in, not counting the awesome LA Confidential of course. All in all a very average film ***5/10***