Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy, William Shatner and Keanu Reeves are all big names with even bigger Hollywood ties to the movie industry. What else do they all have in common?

If your top guess is they’re first-rate actors, that’s your own questionable opinion. If you thought of their ill-advised attempts at rock stardom, then you’re right.

Now add the accredited actor Jared Leto of “Fight Club” and “Requiem for a Dream” to the pack of Beverly Hills rockers trying to make a name for themselves in music.

Leto fronts the self-proclaimed “prog-pop” band 30 Seconds to Mars, which tries just a little too hard to grasp artistic notions on its sophomore release, “A Beautiful Lie.”

First of all, it’s best to shed confusing genre labels ahead of time, because by labeling its music the band dually limit its possibilities. This release, although striving with all its heart to be original, falters in the process and has a difficult time recovering after the halfway point in the work.

It’s obvious this band takes itself seriously, which is made evident by a quick glance at the album’s artwork, track name and lyrics. However, it is possible it takes itself a little too seriously. This is made clear after hearing the vocals of Jared Leto. His melodramatic, over-the-top style of singing comes off sounding more arrogant than sincere and helps the release fail in its overall attempt at greatness.

However, the main flaw is not in Leto’s pomposity or the more droningly unoriginal tracks, such as “Was it a Dream?” and “Savior.” The sole responsibility rests upon the fact that there actually is some potential here make a decent record. Instead of committing to a concept, though, they nervously cling to the “pop/rock” radio formula and squander any creativity into its songs’ intros.

In fact, the introductions to the tracks capture some of the more interesting and ethereal moments conceived throughout the entire album. Laced together with gritty charm and synthesizers, they bring about an entirely different side to the band that is not conveyed through much of the CD. If Leto and his band-mates are really attempting to cover new ground, the most promising direction for them to go seems to be one that is at home with the more electronic elements of these songs.

While the electronic songs are obviously less “radio-friendly,” they seem to possess the ability to sprout forth the intangible qualities that could make this band something to lust about. Strides towards this rough blueprint are made through songs such as “A Modern Myth” and “Attack,” the title track.

The song to best grasp this overall potential with almost complete clarity is “The Battle of One.” The song succeeds in harnessing the aggression of previous songs and the electronic caliber of the other intros into a representative sample of what this band should’ve been doing for the rest of release.

The moral to this story works to 30 Seconds to Mars’ advantage: The band should not be written off as another pathetic celebrity exploit into the gamut of music. It does, in fact, have talent. However, it has to learn to take chances and not rely so much on preconceptions of how its genre of music is supposed to sound.

If the band gets a little more experience and the nerve to tackle a release head on, I have faith that this might not be the last we hear of Jared Leto’s music career.