I mean, clearly a scifi, but I'm talking about the premise in the movie. It's not as farfetched as you may think. Some countries already operate under the premise.
Why go to scifi when you can go to the past? Ancient empires have risen and fallen that were more advanced than what followed them, time isn't always progress.
Mainly because scifi hasn't yet happened, but we see the signs of getting there; while the past may already be over, and we may not see the signs of it happening again now.