An attempted murder of a Japanese businessman in a dying Pennsylvania steel town had plenty of promise. The red herrings are introduced at a rapid rate, like the disgruntled steel workers who don't want an amusement park taking the place of their union jobs, or the town rebel played by Jeff Fahey wanting to run off with the businessman's wife, or the wife herself, Bridget Fonda, wanting her husband out of the picture. Different characters tell police captain, J.T.Walsh, their version of the murder attempt in flashbacks. If all this sounds confusing, it is. "Iron Maze" is also convoluted, pointless, ridiculous, and a total waste of time. - MERK

So the director must be a fan of Akira Kurosawa, referring with this movie to Rashomon. Easy, take a clever plot and fill out the details with a very boring detective case. I'm glad Walsh was in this one, he is the only actor worth watching. Fonda is an expressionless wallflower and Fahey is the most prototypical B-movie actor I have ever seen.Really, why do people make such movies? Do they hope the audience gets tricked into buying (or renting) this film so they can make some profit out of this budget wasting creep? Most bad movies do have at least one or two scenes that are unintentionally funny or weird. This one lacks in all places (except, again, for Walsh, which is why I do not give it the lowest rating). Brainless anti-entertainment.

"Iron Maze" has an intriguing script: the story of an attempted murder is unraveled through a series of conflicting flashbacks. Sadly, this script has been poorly directed, poorly photographed and poorly acted. The result is a muddled, unpleasant and self-indulgent film. Jeff Fahey is typically obnoxious, while Bridget Fonda looks pretty and enigmatic, but she doesn't really have to act to achieve those qualities; her actual performance is closer to a zombie than a living human being. And J.T. Walsh plays (surprise!) an officer of the law. The movie also has xenophobic political implications ("those evil Japanese!"), which it tries to reverse in the final scene. (*1/2)

Improbable script, nobody acts this way in real life. The scene where the Sheriff takes the self confessed killer into the office and then puts the only other suspect on the speaker phone is just ridiculous. The only reason I picked this film to watch is the marvelous and wonderful J.T. Walsh. A truley authentic actor whose time on this Earth was cut way too short. The only other reason to watch is the plotline between Jeff Fahey and the kid "Mickey" who had no other person to count on. The ending, while good and fuzzy, still didn't make the emotional payoff for watching this film in it's entirety. I give it a 4 out of 10. Three of those goes to J.T.