[chickadee]

^^^That's definitely been one of the biggest complaints I've heard. But in its defense, Mark Boal had been working on the script before bin Laden was killed, and likely operated under the belief--like so many of us--that he'd never be caught so might as well do it now.

That said, one of the problems I had initially with the character, I've realized, is that it seemed she didn't actually have a character. We know absolutely nothing about Maya beyond her obsession with bin Laden, not what kind of music she likes, what kind of beliefs or philosophy she holds; but in retrospect I think that was kind of the point. She spent her twelve years of her life on this single-minded pursuit. This is her life. She has no interests and no friends outside of this thing. This makes her performance all the more impressive, considering she's got to convey some kind of personality and essentially breathe life into a character that's more an emotion than an actual person.