Director Craig Gillespie is a bit of a chameleon. His films run the gamut of quality and genre. He’s helmed such lowbrow stuff as 2007’s “Mr. Woodcock,” horror like the “Fright Night” remake in 2011, family-friendly fare such as 2014’s “Million Dollar Arm,” and the wonderful “Lars and the Real Girl,” also in 2007.

With such a mixed pedigree, you may not expect him to be able to shift back into quality family film mode, but he does so with “The Finest Hours,” based on the book “The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue” by Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias.

Although creative license was taken to keep it well under the PG-13 bar (indeed, it’s so more for “intense sequences of peril” than salty language), the guts of the story are there, and depicted with much more gusto than you might expect from a somewhat sanitized version of what was no doubt a very severe experience.

In the winter of 1952, New England was hammered by violent weather. Two oil tankers were severely damaged in the storm, miles from shore and also miles apart. Crews were immediately dispatched to the closer and more easily reached tanker, the Fort Mercer. But a third ranked crew was sent in the other direction, and on Feb. 18, these four members of the Coast Guard rescued an astounding 32 of the 33 men stranded at sea in the wreckage of the Pendleton. And although the film is cleaned up to be more presentable, care was taken to stick to the facts of the story itself.

And it’s quite a story. Chris Pine plays Bernie Webber, a young man who’s not so green, having been down the harsh road to rescue before, but sadly, has come up empty handed. There are folks in town who don’t like him, since he couldn’t save some of their own in previous years’ rescue attempts. He’s a humbled man, who can’t even bring himself to ask his lady friend Miriam (Holliday Grainger) to marry him.

But he’s also dedicated, and maybe wanting to prove himself in the face of his past trials. So when the storm hits and the Pendleton is in trouble, he follows the questionable order of his superior officer (Eric Bana), who orders him out on the 70-foot waves to mount a rescue. But due to Webber’s past, he can’t get any experienced shipmates to accompany him, and so he picks the least among them for a suicide attempt of rescue. Amazingly, they succeed, but they probably would not have, save for the efforts of the men on board the Pendleton, led by an understated Casey Affleck playing Ray Sybert.

Sybert’s not too popular, either, preferring to stay below maintaining the engines, rather than on the deck forming relationships. But he convinces the men to follow through with his wild scheme to keep the beleaguered Pendleton afloat long enough for the crew to be rescued.

And so it’s a twin tale of redemption for two men who unknowingly team up to save the day. Pine does a great job not swaggering as a sea-swept James T. Kirk, and instead being quite convincing as an underdog who’s just trying to do the right thing. And although reserved in his portrayal, such reserve ties into the introverted nature of Sybert, and Affleck nails every scene.

The action sequences are surprisingly well-done, and again really earned the -13 aspect of the PG-13 rating. I’m not sure the 3-D was necessary, but the might of the waves, the violent nature of the storm, and the catastrophic effect they took on the Pendleton make the peril to the crew convincing, even if they whistle and literally sing (a bit) while they work. It is a Disney film, after all, but it doesn’t pull its punches when it needs to hit hard. And considering the S.O.P. of films these days, I certainly didn’t miss the admittedly more authentic harsh language.

CRITIC RATING: Three stars

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of peril. 117 minutes.

STARRING: Chris Pine, Holliday Grainger, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana

BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed by: Craig Gillespie. Writing Credits: Scott Silver (screenplay) and Paul Tamasy (screenplay) & Eric Johnson (screenplay), Casey Sherman (book) and Michael J. Tougias (book).

TRIVIA FROM IMDb:

The original Coast Guard lifeboat launch used to rescue the Pendleton survivors, CG36500, still exists and is maintained in perfect condition at Rock Harbor in Orleans, Massachusetts.

The vintage police car used in the film was borrowed from the Orleans Police Department, a Cape Cod town not far from Chatham.

In 2011 the United States Coast Guard named its first 153-foot Fast Response Cutter after Bernard Webber. FRCs are the first class of cutter to be named after enlisted heroes.

Ben Foster and Eric Bana played Navy SEALs in “Lone Survivor” (2013) and Kyle Gallner played a marine in “American Sniper” (2014).

Chris Pine and Eric Bana previously worked together in “Star Trek” (2009).

Both Casey Affleck and Josh Stewart appeared together in “Interstellar” (2014). Although Stewart did not appear onscreen, as he voiced the robot character CASE.

Both Chris Pine and Holliday Granger have previously co-starred in Disney films. Pine in “Into the Woods” (2014) and also “The Princess Diaries: A Royal Engagement” and Granger in “Cinderella” (2015).

Kyle Gallner and Michael Raymond-James have both previously worked on hit TV show “The Walking Dead” by AMC but never appeared on screen together as they were both in different seasons. Kyle (Zach) in season 4 and Michael (Dave) in season 2.

Casey Affleck and Ben Foster previously worked together in “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” (2013).