Genres smash and Harrison Ford is redeemed with winning reel at Wondercon.

Jon Favreau and Roberto Orci took to the WonderCon stage to the tune of AC/DC's "Back in Black."  These are men who've made their bones in rooms like the Moscone Center's Esplanade Ballroom and they were ready to engage.

Speaking bluntly about the "political campaign" nature of a busy summer movie season, Favreau wanted to treat the crowd to some exclusive footage, much of which, he said, won't be seen again until people buy a ticket and see the movie "in glorious 2D."  That final comment was one of many that led to wild applause in the crowd, as did the remark that "if Green Lantern showed 9 minutes, we better show 9 minutes, too."
What followed was about 50% tightened-up footage that I saw at Butt-Numb-A-Thon and 50% new stuff.
We opened with Daniel Craig riding into a dusty, Western town.  He peers through a dirty window to what looks like an empty house.  As he's washing-up (his shirt is stained with blood) he hears a gun cock behind him.  It's Clancy Brown! A bearded Clancy Brown!  He demands to know the strangers name, but he doesn't know it.  Or what he's doing there.  What does he know?  "English."
After this we cut to night time.  A man is being strung up between horses.  Calling the shots: a badass in a big hat.  When he turns, its an icon of cinema as legendary as Clark Gable, John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart:  Harrison Ford.
Someone blew up his cattle and he's pissed.  The man begging for his life swears he was attacked by a "weird light," which we see in a flashback.  Ford, scoffing, heads into town.
That's where he meets up with Daniel Craig and legitimate Hollywood magic happens.
There are some remarkable moments of special effects in the Cowboys & Aliens invasion sequence, but the money shot for today was Craig and Ford making eye contact from underneath the brims of their hats.  And just a few moments later they were slugging each other.  When the two are on screen there's a energy crackling off the screen.  It's production value no computer can create.
In quick flashes we see a little bit of Craig's backstory.  He awoke in the middle of nowhere with a strange band clasped to his wrist.  Now, as freaky blue lights appear over the horizon of the town, he instinctually uses it as a weapon.
There followed an extension of the invasion sequence that appeared in the first trailers, with frighten citizens getting pulled up to the ships.
In a barrage of images that followed we saw some great expanses and shots of men on horses with crazy spaceships that kinda looked like mechanical dragonflies.
This is when something that I've known for over a year finally sunk in.  This is a Sci-Fi adventure movie, but it is also a Western.